By Walter F. Roche Jr. State Health inspectors have determined there were multiple violatons of state and federal mandates in the care provided to a patient who died at a tiny rural Pennsylvania hospital in mid-April. In a 33-page report recently made public, the state health reviewers found the deficiencies went from the bottom to the very top of the Chan-Soon Shiong Medical center in Windber Somerset County. The reviewers found the patient died on April 19 because of a lack of equipment - a functioning sunction machine- and lack of qualified personnel - a respiratory therapist clocked out 1 ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. With a court ordered lien lifted, one of the defendants in the criminal case stemming from the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak has sold a suburban Boston home for $4 million. Records at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds show Douglas Congliaro and his wife, Carla, sold their 8,934 foot Dedham home for $4 million on Sept. 30. Conigliaro recently asked a federal court judge to lift a lien that had been placed on the property after he and his wife were charged with making structured withdrawals from bank accounts to evade reporting requirements. U.S. District Judge Richa ..read more

A Michigan judge today denied a motion for more detailed information from prosecutors sought by the two former pharmacists facing multiple second degree murder charges. Livingston County Circuit Judge Michael P. Hatty denied the motion for bills of particulars following arguments by lawyers for Barry Cadden, Glenn Chin and prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney General's office. Chin and Cadden's lawyers argued that without more detail about the charges they would be unable to provide a full defense. Prosecutors responded by pointing out that extensive details have already emerged during lengt ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. A Greene County chemical firms used temporary generators at its Midway plant for a total of 320.5 hours, ending on Sept. 30 when the regular in-house generator was finally repaired. That's what US Nitrogen LLC said in a report just filed with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the agency which authorized the use of the two temporary generators. In a letter to James Johnston at TDEC USN's Dylan Charles reported a 250 horsepower generator was in use for a total of eight days and 170 hours, while a 300 horsepower generator ran for nine days for a tot ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. A patient who was supposed to have been immediately placed on monitors was found pulseless at UPMC Lock Haven on Aug. 12, just after midnight, according to a critical 36-page report from the Pennsylvania Health Department. According to the report, which was recently made public, the unnamed patient was admitted to the facility on Aug. 11. A physician ordered a continuous cardiac monitor with telemetry. The monitor, hospital records show, had yet to be hooked up when the patient was found lifeless early in the day on Aug. 12. An order for a pulse oximetry monitor was als ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. A Greene County chemical firm is seeking a two month delay in the installation of a retention pond which will reduce excess nitrogen runoffs at its Midway facility. In an Oct. 24 letter to an official of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Dylan Charles, US Nitrogen's plant manager, wrote that delays in contractor availability made it impossible to meet the next day's deadline. The Oct. 25 deadline was set a year ago when the company filed a plan to curb excess nitrogen/nitrate concentrations at one of its outfalls. As Charles wrote, the excesses be ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr There have been even more key departures from the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's troubled transplant program and hospital officials failed to promptly report those vacancies to federal regulators as required. In a four-page report made public this week, officials of the state Health Department said Hershey administrators finally reported the departures to federal officials only after the state surveyors questioned facility officials in August about vacancies dating back to April. The reports comes after Hershey was forced to shutdown indefinitely the abdominal transp ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. Thw widow of singer songwriter Glen Campbell is seeking court approval for an additional $15,272 in legal fees pushing the total to a single firm to $320,362. In a petition filed in probate court in Nashville Kimberly Campbell is askng the court to approve the payment to the firm of Sherrard Roe Voigt and Harbison. The total includes $414.85 in expenses. In a filing defending the request estate attorneys said the fees were reasonable and consistent. The billing shows hourly rate for those providing services ranged from $250 to $775 an hour. Legal fees incurred in the es ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. Significant medication errors and failure to follow doctors orders were just two of multiple violations turned up in an August Medicare inspection of the Hollidaysburg Veterans Center,a state owned 257-bed nursing home in Blair County. The just-released 27-page report from the state Health Department concluded that the facility did not meet the minimum requirements of the federal Medicare program. "The facility failed to ensure residents received care and treatment in accordance with professional standards of practice," the report states. Home officials submitted a corr ..read more

By Walter F. Roche Jr. The attorney for a former pharmacist charged with multiple counts of second degree murder is asking a Michigan judge to order prosecutors to disclose exactly what specific actions are alleged to have caused the deaths. In a motion filed yesterday in Livingston Circuit Court in behalf of Glenn A. Chin, attorney James D.A. Buttrey argued that "it is only fair" that prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney's office disclose what alleged acts by Chin constituted a crime. Chin and co-defendant Barry Cadden have been charged with 13 counts of second degree murder for their role ..read more