Harris Health System is Immune From Whistleblower’s Drug Claims

Harris Health System defeated a whistleblower’s False Claims Act suit alleging improper Medicare and Medicaid billing for drugs, immunizations, and hospital stays, because Harris is a political subdivision of Texas, and therefore immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment.

Tina Strawn’s suit must be dismissed because states can’t be sued in a federal court unless it consents or Congress has clearly abrogated the state’s sovereign immunity, Judge George C. Hanks Jr., of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas said in a Tuesday opinion.

Both state and federal courts have found that Harris is a state ...