Pittsburgh Nurse Practitioner Pleads Guilty To Healthcare Fraud And Drug Diversion

Healthcare is prohibitively expensive, and in general, doctors and nurses provide the best care they can and help patients access whatever services are available to them.  Therefore, healthcare professionals often face criminal charges for the types of misconduct that, in other industries, would only result in civil penalties and loss of professional licenses.  When physicians and nurse practitioners file fraudulent claims with public or private insurers, not only are they causing insurance policy holders and taxpayer-funded programs to incur financial losses, but they are also diverting resources from patients who need them.  You can pay back money in the form of restitution, but you cannot pay back the time in which someone’s health went from bad to worse while they were waiting for treatment.  A former nurse practitioner from Pittsburgh has recently pleaded guilty of stealing medications and money from patients through his fraudulent activities.  If you are being accused of stealing controlled substances from your healthcare workplace, contact a Pittsburgh drug crime lawyer.

Drug Diversion and Pennsylvania Law

Criminal charges of drug diversion can apply any time a defendant engages in actions that cause controlled substances to enter the possession of someone other than patients to whom the drugs have been prescribed for legitimate medical purposes.  These are some of the actions that can cause you to get criminal charges for drug diversion:

• Stealing prescription drugs from a hospital or pharmacy for your own use or for resale
• Illegal operation of an Internet pharmacy
• Illegal prescribing of drugs by a licensed physician or nurse practitioner
• Forgery of prescriptions or theft of prescription pads

In the News

Larry Goisse, Jr. of Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington neighborhood previously worked as a certified nurse practitioner; this qualification made it legal for him to prescribe drugs to patients.  At the height of his career, he worked at several psychiatric clinics, but, for reasons the Department of Justice website did not disclose, his license was suspended sometime before September 2018.  In the fall of 2018, Goisse used a coworker’s license to prescribe controlled substances, mostly the stimulant Adderall, and to submit claims to Medicare for office visits.  He eventually faced charges for drug diversion and healthcare fraud.  In October 2022, Goisse pleaded guilty to five counts of healthcare fraud and one count of drug diversion; his sentencing has been scheduled for January 2023.  News reports published in 2019, when his case was still pending, said that the maximum sentence he could face was 20 years in prison, but now the DOJ says that Goisse could receive a sentence of up to 30 years, in addition to paying a fine of up to $1.25 million.

Contact Gary E. Gerson About Drug Diversion Cases

A criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges related to mishandling of controlled substances in your work as a doctor or nurse practitioner.  Contact the law offices of Gary E. Gerson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about your case.

Sources:

justice.gov/usao-wdpa/pr/former-certified-nurse-practitioner-pleads-guilty-drug-diversion-and-health-care-fraud

hhs.gov/guidance/sites/default/files/hhs-guidance-documents/DrugDiversionFS022316.pdf