Case 2: Louisiana Doctor Charged with Opioid Prescriptions
Drive a few miles north of Metairie, across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (the world’s longest continuous bridge over water), to Slidell, where another health care practitioner is facing severe criminal charges.
According to prosecutors, Dr. Adrian Dexter Talbot was charged with delivering more than one million doses of illegal narcotics, including oxycodone and morphine. These opioids are generally safe pain medications when used for a short period and as directed by a doctor. Still, they can be overused since they generate euphoria and pain relief. Even when prescribed by a doctor, regular use can develop into dependence, and opioid pain medications, when misused, can lead to addiction, overdose events, and deaths.
Dr. Talbot was also accused of stealing more than $5 million from Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana.
Cash for prescriptions?
According to prosecutors, Talbot allegedly ran and operated a medical clinic in Slidell that collected payment in exchange for opioid prescriptions. They also claim that the scam continued when Talbot obtained a full-time job in Pineville, Louisiana, in 2015, more than 250 miles northwest of Slidell. Talbot allegedly left pre-signed prescriptions for clinic customers even though he was no longer physically in Slidell and didn’t see or examine them.
He allegedly hired another physician for the Slidell clinic in 2016, who also pre-signed prescriptions. According to prosecutors, customers then used their insurance coverage to fill the prescriptions, cheating the insurers.
What the Future Could Hold
Talbot faces a maximum term of ten years in federal prison if convicted of healthcare fraud conspiracy. On the remaining accusations, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each conviction: conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances, keeping drug-involved premises unlawfully, and four counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances.
“An indictment is only an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven in a court of law as guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Department of Justice wrote at the bottom of the arrest notices.
Yes, it is correct. The doctor and chiropractor were charged but not found guilty. They have the right to choose their attorneys to represent them in court and to negotiate terms of sentence reductions in plea bargains.