Bethlehem Township Doctor Gets Prison Sentence For Illegally Prescribing Controlled Substances
Many of the scariest and most dangerous drugs are sometimes legal for medical use. Schedule I controlled substances, such as heroin, are not legal under any circumstances. Schedule II controlled substances, a category that includes fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, amphetamine (sold under the brand names Adderall and Dexedrine), and even cocaine, have accepted medical uses, even though the risk of misuse of these drugs is very high. If you illegally buy or manufacture Schedule II controlled substances, you can get in serious legal trouble. Doctors and pharmacists can also face severe consequences if they administer these drugs to patients in harmful or unethical ways or if they fail to use proper caution in ensuring that the patient is using the drug as safely as possible. Addiction to prescription opioids has become so widespread in the past two decades that more regulatory safeguards are in place to make it easier for doctors and pharmacists to find out a patient’s history of treatment with controlled substances, but as recently as 2020, at least one doctor was handing out fentanyl as if we were still in the heyday of strip mall pain clinics. If you are facing criminal charges for illegal possession, purchase, sale, prescription, or dispensing of prescription drugs, contact a Pittsburgh drug crime lawyer.
Civil and Criminal Penalties for Doctors Who Prescribe Addictive Drugs Irresponsibly
Physicians who prescribe controlled substances should do a thorough examination and take a medical history to determine whether the controlled substance will effectively treat the patient’s health complaint, whether the patient is likely to have an adverse reaction to the drug, and whether the patient is likely to abuse or resell the drug. In the old days, when regulations were looser, some doctors used to prescribe opioid painkillers to almost anyone who requested them, without doing their diligence. In the past decade, some doctors have been convicted of illegal prescribing, or even of drug trafficking, for reckless prescribing of addictive drugs. As for civil penalties, doctors who engage in these activities can lose their medical licenses.
In the News
Ajeeb John Titus operated a medical practice in Bethlehem Township, ostensibly for family medicine. Over time, his clinic gained a reputation as an easy place to get opioids, amphetamines, and other sought-after controlled substances. Prosecutors estimate that, between 2010 and 2020, he prescribed more than 400,000 doses of opioid painkillers. Former patients who testified against him said that all they had to do was ask, and he would write them a prescription. One patient even explicitly told Titus that he needed the drugs in order to resell them; Titus met the patient at the back door of the clinic and gave him a bag of fentanyl. Titus was arrested in 2020, and in 2022, he received a sentence of 270 to 729 days in county prison.
Contact Gary E. Gerson About Drug Crimes Defense
A drug crimes defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for misuse of controlled substances such as prescription opioids. Contact the law offices of Gary E. Gerson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about your case.
Sources:
deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/orangebook/e_cs_sched.pdf
lehighvalleylive.com/news/2022/09/bethlehem-twp-doctor-sent-to-prison-for-prescribing-more-than-400000-opioid-doses.html
lehighvalleylive.com/news/2022/07/easton-man-sues-bethlehem-twp-doctor-who-allegedly-got-him-hooked-on-opioids.html
lehighvalleylive.com/news/2020/09/lehigh-valley-doctor-arrested-for-unethical-and-illegal-painkiller-prescriptions-ag-says.html
