The Supreme Court will hear argument next week in two consolidated cases that will decide what standard applies when a doctor asserts a good faith defense to a criminal prosecution for unlawful drug distribution.  The argument on Tuesday, March 1, will address the convictions of two doctors accused of running “pill mills” and seeking to profit in the midst of the national opioid crisis.  According to the Government, “the petitioners simply cloaked themselves in medical garb while acting as drug dealers, lining their own pockets by dispensing addictive, dangerous, and lethal drugs, aware all the while that their profit-seeking came at the expense of their patients’ health.”

Yiulu Ruan was convicted in the Southern District of Alabama of conspiring to unlawfully distribute controlled substances, unlawfully distributing controlled substances, and other offenses, and was sentenced to twenty one years and two months imprisonment.  His conviction was affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit.  Shakeel Kahn was convicted in the District of Wyoming of conspiring to dispense and distribute controlled substances resulting in death, unlawfully dispensing controlled substances, and other offenses, and was sentenced to twenty five years imprisonment.  His conviction was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit.
Continue Reading Supreme Court To Hear Argument Addressing Doctors’ Good Faith Defense To Pill Mill Prosecutions

On Tuesday, the United States filed an Amicus Curiae Brief on a closely watched petition for certiorari.  The Department of Justice articulated the government’s view of the proper standard for pleading fraud in a False Claims Act case.  The petition in United States ex rel. Nathan v. Takeda Pharms. N. Am. asked the Court to resolve the Circuit conflict on
Continue Reading United States Provides Supreme Court With Its View of False Claims Act Pleading Standard

The United States Supreme Court has upheld the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s  individual mandate not because it is as an exercise of Congressional power under the Commerce Clause, but because the mandate is within Congress’s power to lay and collect taxes.

On Medicaid expansion, the Court ruled that the Act violates the Constitution by threatening states with
Continue Reading The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s Individual Mandate is Upheld as a Tax.

With a decision by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expected shortly, the New York Times has published a simple interactive tool examining the potential impact of the decision if the Court were to strike all, some, or none of the provisions of the law commonly knows as “Obamacare”.
Continue Reading Potential Impact of Supreme Court Decision on Health Reform Law