Approximately 400 people have filed suit against St. Joseph London (Ky.) hospital and 11 cardiologists, claiming they conspired to perform unnecessary heart procedures on patients, according to a USA Today/Courier-Journal report.
The hospital's parent, Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, is also named in the suits, which claim that allegedly unnecessary heart stenting resulted in the death of two patients and will require others to take risky blood-thinning medications for the rest of their lives, and increase their likelihood for potentially fatal complications, according to the report.
The hospital and physicians named in the lawsuits deny the allegations. St. Joseph London's lead lawyer, Todd Thompson, JD, said the patients "were very sick people who needed the interventions," according to the report.
The U.S. attorney's office in Lexington, Ky., is also investigating the necessity of the stenting performed at St. Joseph London, according to the report, as well as a financial relationship between the hospital system and a cardiology group.
Cardiology & Medical Necessity: How Your Hospital Can Avoid Heart-Related Investigations
Nearly 300 Patients Allege Unnecessary Heart Care at Saint Joseph-London in Kentucky
The hospital's parent, Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, is also named in the suits, which claim that allegedly unnecessary heart stenting resulted in the death of two patients and will require others to take risky blood-thinning medications for the rest of their lives, and increase their likelihood for potentially fatal complications, according to the report.
The hospital and physicians named in the lawsuits deny the allegations. St. Joseph London's lead lawyer, Todd Thompson, JD, said the patients "were very sick people who needed the interventions," according to the report.
The U.S. attorney's office in Lexington, Ky., is also investigating the necessity of the stenting performed at St. Joseph London, according to the report, as well as a financial relationship between the hospital system and a cardiology group.
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Nearly 300 Patients Allege Unnecessary Heart Care at Saint Joseph-London in Kentucky