The problem with physicians prescribing opioid drugs to patients where there is not a proper medical and prescription history taken, lack of a proper medical examination to confirm the legitimacy of patients' pain complaints, and failure to assess the risk of addiction issues continues.
On November 19, 2021, Dr. Edmund Kemprud, age 78, was convicted in Sacramento federal court of 14 counts of illegally prescribing opioids and other controlled substances to patients. As is common in these cases, undercover officers went to his office in order to obtain evidence that would substantiate the charges. Usually pain medication patients do not want to testify against their physicians so undercover operations are common.
According to evidence presented at trial, Dr. Kemprud was a physician licensed to practice medicine in California and worked in several locations around the East Bay and Central Valley. One of the more inflamatory allegations was that one of the offices was in the back room of a nail salon and medi-spa in Tracy, California.
Dr. Kemprud prescribed commonly abused prescription drugs, including Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, and
Oxycodone. The government introduced evidence that certain prescriptions were outside the usual course of professional practice and not for
legitimate medical purpose.
The government introduced evidence at trial showing that Dr. Kemprud ignored "red flags" which are indications that his patients were addicts or that they were diverting the drugs during the undercover patient visits. Dr. Kemprud charged $79 a visit and the evidence was that he often spent less than five minutes with a patient and would see 30 patients in less than a day. In family practice, those numbers are not unusual for follow up visits but when prescriptions for serious pain medications are being written -- a more extensive visit is expected.
There was evidence that several pharmacies were so troubled by Dr. Kemprud’s prescriptions that they instituted companywide policies to block his prescriptions. In addition, trial testimony of undercover officers established that on 14 occasions between Sept. 6, 2018, and March 13, 2019, Dr. Kemprud prescribed opioids without determining the patients’ medical and prescription histories, without conducting a proper medical examination, without confirming the legitimacy of the patients’ complaints, and without assessing the risk of aberrant drug behavior.
The California Medical Board has a publication for the guidelines for prescribing controlled substances and any and all providers should be compliant with it before prescribing any controlled substance. In addition, the requirements for CURES reports must also be met.
Attorney Commentary: The sentencing of Dr. Kemprud is scheduled on February 14, 2022 and the court will have discretion after consideration of statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The age of Dr. Kemprud may be a factor but I have seen 78 year old clients receive heavy sentences. Often the federal judges can be older and do not view the fact that someone is in their 70s to be a mitigating factor.
However, I have seen cognitive decline among older physicians who do not retire when they should have and fail to recognize the need for complying with the standard of care of a pain management physician. Times have changed considerably in the last 10 years and ignorance of the changing standards of practice is not a very strong defense.
When a physician prescribes without medical necessity or by following the standard of care, the protection for prescribing controlled substances provided by the DEA license is taken away.
Posted by Green and Associates
