The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland recently weighed in on the appropriate causation standard when evaluating whether a claim “result[s] from” a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute sufficient to constitute a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the False Claims Act. In U.S. ex rel. Fitzer v. Allergan, Inc., the court adopted a middle of the road approach under which a causal link between the remuneration and the claim is required, but a showing that the remuneration succeeded in producing the prescription is not.
In this case, Relator Matthew A. Fitzer filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against two medical device companies that have, at different times, owned the LAP-BAND brand. In the suit, Fitzer alleged that the website the defendants used to advertise and market the LAP-BAND product, which included a physician locator tool that allowed potential patients to identify bariatric surgeons in their area who could perform the surgery required to implant the LAP-BAND device, was a way for defendants to conduct an unlawful kickback scheme in violation of the AKS by providing surgeons with valuable free advertising on the website in order to induce surgeons to recommend the LAP-BAND medical device instead of alternative options.
In deciding defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the court addressed whether the AKS language providing that “a claim that includes items or services resulting from a violation of [the AKS] constitutes a false or...
A popular social media conspiracy theory about a recent cluster of hantavirus cases claims that the word “hanta” means “scam,” “fraud,” or “nonsense” in “Hebrew slang.” That’s more or less where t...