HARRISBURG — The wife of a deceased veteran is suing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, alleging overcharging $50,000 in a lien from a pharmaceutical malpractice incident involving her husband.
Gloria L. Trostle of New Bloomfield, individually and on behalf of the estate of the deceased David A. Trostle, field a lawsuit Jan. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), alleging unjust enrichment.
The suit began July 8, 2011, when a dialysis nurse at Fresenius Medical Care called in a prescription for Lanthanum Phosphate (Fosrenal) into Bloomfield Pharmacy on behalf of David Trostle. The complaint states the pharmacy incorrectly filled the prescription with lithium carbonate, which caused Trostle to become ill and be hospitalized July 15, 2011, for lithium toxicity treatment before being transferred to a nursing home for further care.
According to the complaint, Trostle spent 66 days in various hospitals and was in a coma for two weeks due to the prescription incident. The plaintiff alleges she and her husband incurred large hospital bills for treatment and rehab, which were paid by their insurance. David Trostle had Medicare, which originally filed a $725.17 lien, and Tricare Health Insurance, which agreed to a reduced lien of $26,809.54 as of Jan. 27, 2014, the suit states.
As of May 13, 2014, the lawsuit states, CMS reported a lien to the plaintiff’s counsel and defendants as $1,212.32. The parties eventually agreed to a settlement of $225,000, allegedly based on the belief that the lien was $1,212,32.
Gloria Trostle alelges after the case had been settled, CMS increased its claimed lien to $53,295.14. As of Nov. 23, 2015, the defendant alleges its liens is $59,349.98 and has engaged a collection agency to collect the sum. The plaintiff argues CMS acted in a negligent and deceptive manner concerning the lien agreements in addition to refusing to pay a portion of attorney’s fees and costs throughout the matter.
Trostle requests that the lien increase after the date of settlement be held unlawful and that CMS be required to accept the $1,212.32 and less attorney fees, as fulfillment of its lien. She is represented by attorney Richard C. Angino of the Angino Law Firm, PC, in Harrisburg.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Case number 1:16-cv-00156-WWC