As the US medical industry comes under increasing fire due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical practitioners are fighting for the lives of their fellow citizens as well as the future of their entire industry. However, in a time when US medical staff need support and assistance, the news of a federal court case opening up in Detroit will do little to help sway public opinion positively.
Four suburban physicians have been landed in federal court in Detroit and have been charged as being part of a $41m opioid scheme that involved fake prescriptions, fake patients, and close to 2m pain pills that ended up on the streets of America. The authorities say it was part of a money-making exercise, and that the doctors were likely assisted in the scheme.
The federal indictment was pushed in early June, and 19 people were charged in total with a massive pain pill scandal. The prosecution suggests that four physicians, three pharmacists, a pair of nurses, a clinic owner and a group of others were associated with one another in running the scheme. The indictment has charged the defendants with running a drug conspiracy for as long as three years, with up to 2 million pain pills being pushed onto the black market as a consequence. This includes addictive tablets such as Oxycodone and Oxymorphone – these drugs alone carry a value of $41m.
The attorney involved in the indictment, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, said: “Prescription drugs are supposed to go to people who truly need them, not to fake patients or people selling drugs on the streets. We are focusing on charging doctors, pharmacists, and the networks that add to the opioid crisis — and this case is unfortunately yet another example of the serious problem facing Michigan.”
The prescription ring is believed to have been running since 2017 and was run from the New Rehab Vision and Preferred Rehab clinics. The owners are alleged to have given the doctors cash and benefits to write up prescriptions for fake patients who had no need for prescription medication.
They also paid an unlicensed professional to pose as a doctor and issue out pre-signed prescriptions under the name of other providers. According to the prosecution, they prescribed as much as 1.9 million doses of various opioids, including cough syrups which are high in codeine.
Prosecutors also believe that patient recruiters and pharmacy teams were used to help file needless prescriptions before billing insurance firms, including Medicare and Medicaid, with some of the pharmacists alleged to have taken cash from the recruiters who were filling out medication forms. Pharmacies including the Detroit New Hope Pharmacy, Synergy Pharmacy, Nottingham Pharmacy, Crownz Medical Pharmacy and Franklin Healthmart are believed to have been involved.
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