Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health is facing another lawsuit over improper interventional cardiology procedures, according to the West Virginia Record.
On April 20, Paul McClung filed a complaint against LifePoint and one of its former physicians. Mr. McClung underwent a heart catheterization March 14, 2013, at Raleigh (W.Va.) General Hospital, which is owned by LifePoint. Mr. McClung claims the catheterization was not medically necessary. He also alleges he underwent a second procedure — stenting of the ramus intermediate — that was not medically unnecessary.
The procedures subjected Mr. McClung to unnecessary risks for the sole purpose of financial gain, according to the lawsuit.
Mr. McClung's allegations are similar to those in at least 15 other lawsuits filed against LifePoint since 2014. After discovering two cardiologists had conducted improper procedures in the cardiac catheterization laboratories at Raleigh General and Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma, Ala., LifePoint reported the matter to the Department of Justice.
In February 2015, LifePoint said the two cardiologists "independently elected to place cardiac stents that may not have been clinically appropriate."
The two cardiologists who allegedly performed the improper procedures no longer practice at any of LifePoint's affiliated hospitals.
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