Cardiologist Gets 4 to 8 Years; Nurse’s Accused Killer Charged; Spine Surgery Suit

New York cardiologist Frank Pollaro, MD, was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison after admitting to having child porn on his laptop. Pollaro was previously registered as a sex offender for a similar charge from 8 years ago. (News 12)

A 27-year-old man has been accused of killing Melissa Jubane, the 32-year-old Oregon nurse whose remains were found earlier this week. Bryce Schubert, who lived in Jubane’s apartment complex, has not yet entered a plea on three charges: second-degree murder, kidnapping, and second-degree abuse of a corpse. (KATU)

Junior doctors referred to Lucy Letby as “Nurse Death,” according to an inquiry into the NHS response to Letby, which began this week. (BBC)

A family in South Carolina alleged a surgeon misplaced screws during spinal surgery, leaving their daughter partially paralyzed. (WCSC)

California ob/gyn Robert Altman, MD, was accused by the state’s medical board of sexual misconduct. (Sacramento Bee)

Yale settled with dozens of women who said they endured painful egg retrieval procedures after a nurse at its fertility clinic swapped painkillers for saline. The settlement amount was not disclosed, but court filings from late last year proposed $2 million per patient. (New York Times)

Great Ormond Street Hospital in England is reviewing the cases of more than 700 pediatric patients after concerns were raised about a former orthopedic surgeon there. (BBC)

A former executive at a COVID test kit company was sentenced to more than 6 years in prison for embezzling more than $1.85 million, according to federal prosecutors.

Massachusetts device maker THD America will pay $700,000 to settle claims that it prompted doctors to use incorrect codes to garner inflated reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

A nurse aide in Kansas was sentenced to a year of probation for injuring an elderly nursing home resident by attempting to move her without help. Evidence indicated the 90-year-old woman either fell or was dropped the day she died. (Wichita Eagle)

An Alabama nurse practitioner sued HHS, alleging unnecessarily harsh practices around its student debt relief program. Haley Clements enrolled in a federal program to pay off $25,000 in student debt, but when her supervising doctors died or retired, she struggled to find another qualifying program and was stuck with a $217,500 penalty. (Wall Street Journal)

A class-action lawsuit accused Aetna of violating federal non-discrimination law by denying coverage of some gender-affirming surgeries. (Axios)