Doctor accused of murdering patient by overdosing on three prescriptions

by whengwe8 on 2012-03-06 16:25:53

A doctor in Georgia was sentenced to jail for the October 2007 overdose death of one of his patients, a housemate. Noel Tsai was convicted of felony murder and violating the state's controlled substances act in the death of Jamie·Carter III due to the effects of alcohol combined with oxycodone prescribed by Tsai's detailed records indicate was Carter and ketamine. In Florida, Dr. Sergio·Rodriguez faces three counts of first-degree murder in overdose deaths after writing more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three-year period starting January 25th 2007 - an average of one day, according to a DEA affidavit. The DEA raid swept her office in 2010 suspending her medical license and prescription rights. After her arrest, she voluntarily surrendered her license to practice osteopathy to the California Medical Board this week. Her husband continues to run their clinic. This case particularly highlights a gray area as these patients addicted to prescription drugs seek out doctors willing to be a source for their habit. Prosecutors have charged numerous doctors and pharmacists with illegally prescribing medications arguing that they wrote prescriptions in the regular course of business and not for legitimate medical use.

Prosecutors who took the rare step of charging a doctor with murder in the prescription-related deaths of three patients from overdoses said Friday the case should serve as a warning to unethical doctors who become pill machines. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve- said his office will continue prosecuting greedy and unethical doctors Hsiu-Ying facing charges after Lisa's death once 42 years old, other second-degree murder charges and 21 felonies. If convicted of murder Vu Nguyen, 29, of Lake Forest on March 2nd 2009; Steven flirtation, 25, of Palm Desert on April 9th 2009; and Joseph Rovero III, 21, an Arizona State University student from San Ramon on December 18th, could face life in prison.

"This case goes beyond anything we've seen before," he said, emphasizing that cases of this type must be carefully studied before extreme murder charges are filed. She made her first court appearance Friday wearing a pink shirt looking dejected, www.mystseo.com. She sobbed incessantly and the hearing was postponed until March 9th when her bail, currently set at $3 million, will also be reconsidered. Her lawyer declined to comment after the hearing. Zeng is a licensed osteopath and along with her husband, a doctor, established a storefront office in the Los Angeles suburb of Rowland·Heights in 2005. Three years later, she was under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the California Medical Board for reported prescription violations to pharmacies. Patient deaths were connected to her practice in 2009, according to officials, but not all led to murder charges.

Of the approximately 880,000 registered doctors prescribing medication nationwide, federal agents investigate between 200 and 300 so-called dirty doctors suspected each year, a DEA spokesman said Rusty Payne. But bringing murder charges against a doctor in a case where a patient dies from an overdose is extremely rare. "I'm really strict, I follow my guidelines... If my patient decides to take a month's supply in one day, then there's nothing I can do." In 2008, Harriston Bass was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Gina Micali, 38, in Nevada after she died following the ingestion of hydrocodone painkillers. Bass was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.