This week, a physician and his wife a MFT intern, who have admitted to addiction issues, pleaded guilty in federal court for improperly obtaining prescription drugs through self-prescribing by the husband doctor.
On
December 16, 2015, Dr. Matthew Cole, a dermatologist at Insight Dermatology with offices in San Diego and National City, and his wife, Shireen Cole, who are both in
drug treatment programs, pleaded guilty to prescription drug-related charges.
They admitted that they conspired to obtain scheduled pharmaceutical drugs
commonly known as Percocet, Xanax and Ambien by submitting fraudulent
prescriptions to pharmacies as if they were valid.
Dr.
Cole used his own prescription pad with his assigned DEA registration
number to write prescriptions in the names of friends with whom he had no
doctor-patient relationship, and who had no knowledge of the prescriptions
written in their names. He also wrote prescriptions for his wife using her
maiden name.
For
example, Dr. Cole admitted in his plea agreement that he wrote a prescription
for 60 10-milligram tablets of Oxycodone in the name of a female college friend
and on December 27, 2014, his wife took it to be filled at a CVS Pharmacy.
While still in the CVS Pharmacy, Shireen Cole, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
intern, handed the oxycodone tablets over to Dr. Cole.
Although
the college friend was never a patient of Dr. Cole, on February 16, 2015, at
his medical office, he created a false medical file for that friend, using his
status as a licensed medical doctor to create the false appearance of a valid
doctor/patient relationship.
In
all, the plea agreements listed 39 instances where fraudulent medical
prescriptions were used to acquire Scheduled pharmaceutical drugs from pharmacies. These
39 separate instances resulted in the acquisition of 1,820 tablets of scheduled
pharmaceutical drugs, 1,280 of which were oxycodone – commonly known as
Percocet. The other drugs were zolpidem tartrate, commonly known as
Ambien, and alprazolam, known as Xanax. Since the drugs were not being sold, the charges are not as serious as the maximum sentence on this charge is 4 years.
The Medical Board will be the next part of the case since physicians have to report Indictments or felony guilty pleas. The Medical Board can recognize the addiction issues here and there are many mitigating circumstances that can allow the doctor to save his license.
It is Case No. 15CR3074-H in the Southern District of California (San Diego) and the plea was to counts in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sections 843(a)(3), 843(d)(1), and 846 – Conspiracy to Acquire Controlled Substances by Fraud, Deception, and Subterfuge. The maximum sentence on this charge is 4 years although it would be rare in a case such as this for such a high sentence to be imposed.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
The Medical Board will be the next part of the case since physicians have to report Indictments or felony guilty pleas. The Medical Board can recognize the addiction issues here and there are many mitigating circumstances that can allow the doctor to save his license.
It is Case No. 15CR3074-H in the Southern District of California (San Diego) and the plea was to counts in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sections 843(a)(3), 843(d)(1), and 846 – Conspiracy to Acquire Controlled Substances by Fraud, Deception, and Subterfuge. The maximum sentence on this charge is 4 years although it would be rare in a case such as this for such a high sentence to be imposed.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
