The US Justice Department convicted doctors for providing prescription drugs to those with no medical need following the discovery of a multi-state network of pain-management clinics that operated from 2007 to 2018. The convicts included physicians of all ethnic backgrounds.

The doctors prescribed drugs like oxycodone. The department sentenced 12 physicians, allegedly involved in a $250 million healthcare fraud scheme that included the exploitation of patients suffering from addiction and the illegal distribution of over 6.6 million doses of medically unnecessary opioids. 

Five physicians were convicted in two separate trials, while 18 other defendants pleaded guilty. Seven defendants await sentencing.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, the scheme involved doctors refusing to provide patients with opioids unless they agreed to expensive, unnecessary and sometimes painful back injections over several years. As a result, patients developed severe pain, adverse conditions, including open holes in their backs. Evidence also showed that such procedures were carried out to fulfil the lavish lifestyles of doctors.

Source: Dawn