The Des Moines Register has reported that a physician has entered a guilty plea for his role in the overdose death of one of his patients; as he had given the man, with a known "drug habit", a prescription for 180 narcotic pain pills.
Newton physician L.T. Jr. admitted to committing the crimes he pleaded guilty to. In his plea deal 122 other charges were dropped. The plea deal also stipulates that U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose sentence L.T. Jr. to five years behind bars, followed by three years of either home confinement or time in a community corrections facility.
Had L.T. Jr. been convicted of all 124 charges he would have faced a lifetime prison sentence.
The patient that died, identified as "R.L." in court, was given hydrocodone painkillers.
According to the state of Iowa there is at least one prescription overdose death per week – where ten years ago a drug overdose of that type occurred less than half that much. Federal records show that across the United States the number of deaths attributed to prescription drug overdoses has tripled over the past 20 years.
The two counts L.T. Jr. did plea guilty to were illegal distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and defrauding Medicaid and Medicare.
R.L. died in 2010 of an overdose of both drugs and alcohol. L.T. Jr. surrendered his medical license in 2012. In October of 2012 he was indicted. The allegations were that he prescribed addictive drugs to patients – after other medical professionals (or patients' relatives and friends) warned L.T. Jr. that the drugs were being abused.
The indictment read, "(L.T. Jr.) was aware of his reputation in the community for being the place to go to acquire prescription pain drugs."
Judge Rose noted that L.T. Jr.'s guilty plea was an admission that he had given out the medication "without a legitimate medical purpose" and it was given to R.L. "to maintain a drug habit." L.T. Jr. acknowledged that he understood the consequences of his guilty plea.
The sentencing has been set for May 29.
A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of R.L., a father of two, was allegedly settled out of court.
Judge Rose allowed L.T. Jr. to return home due to his health problems as his sentence is pending. Normally, according to the judge, most defendants that plead guilty to these types of charges would be taken into custody. The judge also spoke with L.T. Jr.'s probation officers before letting him leave the courtroom, and commended him on how "absolutely perfect" they said he was to work with.
Dr. A.M., who was L.T. Jr.'s business partner, went to prison for 6 months in 2010 for health care fraud. Authorities then checked in on L.T. Jr.'s clinic and filed charges against him as well.
Whatever number of criminal charges you are facing contact a criminal defense attorney for help. In this scenario it is clearly obvious that the number of charges this defendant pleaded guilty to greatly affected the outcome of his case.
