Digest This: Whistleblowing

Whistleblowers initiated record-breaking settlements against pharmaceutical companies in 2009. And they didn’t go away empty handed. Informants can earn millions of dollars from blowing the whistle on company misbehaving. How does the law work? Widener Law professor Andrew Fichter answers your questions.

Digest This is a weekly, hour-long online discussion hosted by WHYY’s Health and Science team. Join us every Tuesday at noon. Log on at lunchtime to pose questions to experts and our reporters, voice opinions, and connect to people with similar concerns.

THIS WEEK’S TOPIC: Whistleblowing

Whistleblowers initiated record-breaking settlements against pharmaceutical companies in 2009. And they didn’t go away empty handed. Informants can earn millions of dollars from blowing the whistle on company misbehaving. How does the law work?

When: 12:00 noon Tuesday, February 2

Where: Right here. Click the blue button in the right sidebar to join the chat.

Moderator: Kerry Grens

This week’s guests:

Margaret Hutchinson Margaret L. Hutchinson, Chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, supervises all civil affirmative and defensive litigation, including environmental and fraud cases.  Ms. Hutchinson has prosecuted health care fraud within teaching hospitals, partial hospitalization programs, Medicare secondary payment issues and HMO credentialing.  Ms. Hutchinson recently supervised fraud in pharmaceutical pricing, off label promotion of drugs and quality of care concerns such as the Personal Care Home initiative. She teaches Health Care Fraud as an adjunct professor at Drexel University Law School. 

Andrew Fichter, M.A., PhD, J.D., is an associate professor at Widener Law. Professor Fichter’s principal area of teaching and research is health care. He is currently conducting research in legal issues involving health care professions.