Equal Time For a Partner in Crime?

The Background

The physician pled guilty at the end of 2022¹ to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The physician owned an urgent care practice and would knowingly prescribe medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, amphetamines, and other controlled substances outside of the usual scope of professional practice to people, including those who he knew were addicted to drugs.

The doctor and pharmacist made attempts to hide their scheme by having the physician also write prescriptions for non-controlled substances for the pharmacist to dispense to avoid raising red flags with the wholesaler or Drug Enforcement Agency about the quantity of controlled substances being dispensed.

According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, investigators discovered, for example, that in November 2017 the physician wrote prescriptions for more than 700 30 mg pills of oxycodone for a “patient” who the doctor knew was a drug addict. To provide more drugs to that same “patient,” the physician wrote prescriptions for another 75 oxycodone pills in the name of the “patient’s” wife—someone who had never seen the doctor for a medical appointment and had no doctor-patient relationship with him. Further, the wife was unaware that the physician had issued a prescription in her name for her husband.

The Case

The physician and pharmacist were both arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Court documents indicated that the physician charged drug seekers between $100 and $150 per office visit, as well as collecting fees for writing prescriptions for “patients” who did not actually visit the office.

In late 2022, both the physician and pharmacist pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The pharmacist was sentenced in March 2023 to 33 months in prison and a fine of $10,000. The physician admitted to writing prescriptions for 18 fake “patients” between January 2013 and December 2018. The prescriptions totaled approximately 53,693 oxycodone pills, 68,795 hydrocodone pills, and 29,286 amphetamines. Prosecutors argued that the physician “had stopped treating patients and, plain and simple, became a drug dealer,” according to a sentencing memorandum. “He turned ‘patients’ into addicts and/or fueled the addictions of drug abusers.”

In the end, the physician was sentenced to over 12 years in prison and a $35,000 fine and was immediately taken into custody.

The Bottom Line
These sorts of cases are taken extremely seriously. This is not a case of a physician accidentally writing too many prescriptions for controlled substances, or not realizing that a patient was a drug seeker. In this case, the physician and pharmacist were well aware of what they were doing. This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation, the largest anti-crime task force in the country, and includes over 500 federal prosecutors, 1200 federal agents, and 5000 state/local police.²

Ann W. Latner, JD, is a freelance writer and attorney based in New York. She was formerly the director of periodicals at the American Pharmacists Association and editor of Pharmacy Times.

References:

1. Orange county doctor sentenced to more than 12½ years in prison for prescribing opioids to ‘patients’ whom he knew were addicts. News release. United States Attorney’s Office; June 9, 2023. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/orange-county-doctor-sentenced-more-12-12-years-prison-prescribing-opioids-patients
2. About OCDETF. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces. Accessed October 23, 2023.

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