A physician practicing with a family-medicine group in Wilmington, North Carolina agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act. The United States contended that from approximately 2009 through 2018 the physician wrote prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.
According to the government's allegations, the physician prescribed the combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxer, a cocktail frequently sought by people who misuse drugs, on nearly 400 separate occasions between 2016 and 2018. Over that same two-year period, the physician allegedly wrote nearly 9,000 prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances such as oxycodone.
The federal investigation followed a 2018 consent order from the North Carolina Medical Board. In that order the physician acknowledged that multi-year prescribing of opioids and other controlled substances to one patient departed from accepted medical standards. The patient had shown numerous warning signs of abuse, lost significant weight, and went into acute narcotic withdrawal before being involuntarily admitted for detoxification. The matter was investigated jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the DEA Diversion Control Program.
The physician had previously surrendered his DEA registration and, as part of the settlement, agreed not to reapply for authority to prescribe Schedule II controlled substances until April 30, 2024. The government's factual and legal assertions are allegations only, and the settlement is not an admission of liability.