A patient treated at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ky., owned by Catholic Health Initiatives, is suing the medical center, the parent company, and his physicians for what he says was unnecessary heart surgeries, reports WHAS 11. The patient, Edward Marshall, received 19 heart catheterizations and a pacemaker operation.
Catholic Health Initiatives has faced previous accusations about unnecessary procedures. St. Joseph's Hospital in Kentucky is not the first hospital in which a patient claimed inappropriate stenting. Earlier this year, the other St. Joseph Medical Center in Towsend, Md., faced similar allegations, as well as illegal kickback accusations. Without admitting liability, the parent company eventually agreed to a $22 million settlement with the government.
Maryland's St. Joseph CEO Jeffrey K. Norman recently resigned, reports The Baltimore Sun. Norman was brought on in the fall of 2009, months after the accused cardiologist stopped practicing at the hospital amid the stent scandal.
A JAMA study published in July found that one in eight non-emergent heart stents are not necessary or unwarranted, costing the U.S. $12 billion a year, reports Reuters.
For more information:
- read the WHAS 11 article
- read The Baltimore Sun article
- read the Reuters article
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*This article was updated on 9/30 for clarification.