Murdered Doc Suffered Prior Beating; Fake Plastic Surgeon; Doc Drugged Nanny

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A weekly roundup of healthcare’s encounters with the courts

by
Kristina Fiore, Director of Enterprise & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today

August 29, 2024

Hamid Mirshojae, DO, the doctor who was shot outside of the urgent care facility where he worked in Los Angeles, had been beaten by people with baseball bats months before his death. (ABC 7)

A man in Los Angeles was charged with assault and battery after impersonating a doctor and performing cosmetic surgery without a license, resulting in “great bodily injury” to at least one client, according to prosecutors. (Los Angeles Times via AOL)

New York anesthesiologist Paul Giacopelli, MD, admitted to drugging his family’s nanny by placing a sevoflurane-soaked rag over her face, and then sexually abusing her. (People)

Arkansas physician Sudesh Banaji, MD, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of rape. (KARK)

Virginia pediatrician Dalton Renick, DO, had his license suspended after a medical board investigation found that he made several lewd comments to patients. (WSET)

Oncologist Thomas Weiner, MD, who was fired from St. Peter’s Health in Montana in 2020, is accused in a federal civil lawsuit of allegedly seeing up to 70 patients a day, double-billing federal healthcare programs, and overprescribing pain medications to boost his income. Criminal charges were not filed, but prosecutors simultaneously announced a $10.8 million settlement with the hospital where he worked. (AP)

Southern California doctor John Thropay, MD, was sentenced to just over 3 years in prison for his role in a $2.8 million hospice fraud scheme. (Mercury News)

A nurse has sued St. Luke’s Hospital in Missouri, claiming the facility didn’t give contract nurses the minimum number of shifts that it had agreed to. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Arkansas physician Lonnie Parker, MD, was sentenced to 87 months in prison, plus 3 years of supervised release thereafter, for prescribing controlled substances without legitimate medical need. (KSLA)

Oregon nurse Phyllis Dodds, RN, who was accused of failing to provide care to three assisted living residents — including one man who died — has pleaded guilty to criminal mistreatment. (KDRV)