Prosecutors said that Insys paid doctors to sell Subsys, an under-the-tongue fentanyl spray that is supposed to be used to treat patients with cancer, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Arizona, Iowa, and North Carolina.
- Arizona: John Kapoor, founder of opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison on Thursday for his involvement in a racketeering scandal. Prosecutors in the case have accused Insys of paying doctors to sell Subsys, an under-the-tongue fentanyl spray that is supposed to be used to treat patients with cancer. Kapoor's lawyer, Beth Wilkinson, said she plans to appeal the decision (Thomas, New York Times, 1/23).
- Iowa: A few weeks ago, Luke Slavens, manager for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, was rebounding basketballs during a practice when he started to feel dizzy and passed out. According to doctors, Slavens, who at age 10 was diagnosed with a disorder that causes unusual electrical activity in the heart, had gone into cardiac arrest. But Brad Floy, the athletic trainer, who was trained in CPR, swept into action. When Slavens' heart stopped, Floy told a student assistant to call 9-11 and used a defibrillator on Slavens. After a few minutes, Slavens regained consciousness, and weeks later, Slavens is recovering from heart surgery, grateful that Floy was there to save his life (Leistikow, USA Today, 1/22).
- North Carolina: The Charlotte City Council on Tuesday approved Novant Health's $154 million project to develop a new hospital. The new facility will have 36 acute care beds, two operating rooms, and an operating room for cesarean sections. The approval was officially approved by the state last year (Chemtob, The Charlotte Observer, 1/21).