A Santa Barbara-based physician, who was known by his colleagues for over prescribing medications to his patients, has been arrested on federal drug trafficking charges, as reported by Yahoo News and the Los Angeles Times.
Dr. J.D. allegedly sold massive amounts of strong painkillers over a period of years. He appeared in court n Orange County is currently being held without bond.
Emergency room physicians at Santa Barbara hospital reportedly saw numerous instances of Dr. J.D. causing his patients to become addicted to pain medications due to his habit of over prescribing.
Physicians voiced their concern not over the issue alone, but in the length of time it took authorities to arrest Dr. J.D.
Dr. C.L., a physician in the emergency room at Cottage Health System, said, “I don't really understand what happened there. Physicians these days get censured for bad record keeping — the medical board is on them immediately for making an error in a chart. But what happened in this case? How did it slide along?”
Complaints about Dr. J.D.’s conduct had allegedly been made to federal authorities at least 15 years ago.
Some of Dr. J.D.’s patients may also have died as a result of over-medicating – but he has not been charged. Those incidents are under investigation. He is currently facing charges of illegally prescribing excessive amounts of medication to patients that didn’t require it – and for accepting sexual favors, in lieu of payment, from some of his female patients.
According to DEA statistics Dr. J.D. is one of 230 physicians criminally charged for prescription drug abuse since 2003.
The drugs that Dr. J.D. allegedly supplied to addicts without legitimate needs include: OxyContin, Vicodin and Norco, among others. Of those drugs, allegedly some patients sold their supply on the black market while others suffered from fatal overdoses.
Per authorities, one man was prescribed 2,087 pills – over one six-week period – before her died last November. Additionally, two women admitted that they used sex to pay for their narcotic prescriptions.
Dr. J.D.’s medical license remains in good standing.
Dr. C.L. said that though the complaints against Dr. J.D. span 15 years, the doctors from his facility began notifying the DEA approximately four years ago.
Sarah Pullen, spokeswoman for the DEA, was unaware of complaints going back 15 years. Her office began their investigation in 2009.
Dr. J.D. specializes in pathology and geriatrics. Dr. C.L. said that between 2009 and 2010 400 patients visited the emergency room – all patients of Dr. J.D. Of those, Dr. C.L. recalled a 96 year old and 100 year old that were given large amounts of narcotic prescriptions.
Another doctor told authorities that he witnessed Dr. J.D. giving a patient enough Dilaudid medication that could “kill a horse.”
Dr. C.L. reported to the state medical board that at least once a month the hospital admitted one of Dr. J.D.’s patients – and each one have been prescribed a high dose of narcotic medication.
If convicted, Dr. J.D. is facing up to 20 years in prison.
Dr. J.D. told a reporter, “Perhaps there were some hints there that I should have known they were going to overdose. If you don't give them the medications, they are going to go to the street. That has become an issue of: What is the worse of two evils?”
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