Determining the Proper Standard of Causation to Support a Conviction Under 18 U.S.C. § 1347 When Healthcare Fraud 'Results in Death'

Abstract

The Circuit Courts of Appeal are currently divided as to the appropriate standard of causation required by the 'results in death' language of the healthcare-fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1347. Because the Sixth Circuit’s proximate-cause standard respects fundamental principles of causation, acknowledges the key distinctions between this statute and narrower drug statutes, and comports with other courts’ interpretations of penalty-enhancing statutes, the Supreme Court should resolve the split by adopting the Sixth Circuit’s approach.