Henson postdated prescriptions and wrote them without a medical need or legitimate exam in return for cash, federal officials said. In some instances, he prescribed opioid medications in dangerous amounts.
“There was ample evidence that Henson was prescribing opioid medications in amounts likely to lead to addiction, and in amounts so expensive that the patients would likely be forced by economic circumstances to support their addiction by selling some of the drugs to others,” US District Judge J. Thomas Marten said.
Some of McGovern’s family members spoke in court, according to the station, saying this case should serve as an example to prevent it from happening to another family.
US Attorney Stephen McAllister sent a similar message.
“For any doctors, pharmacists or nurses who disregard their oath and distribute powerful drugs illegally to enrich themselves, the message today is that they will be prosecuted to the full extent allowed by federal law,” McAllister said.
Crackdown on opioid epidemic
McAllister said his sentencing is part of a crackdown on the national opioid epidemic.
“We are dealing with an epidemic,” McAllister said. “Nationwide, more than 70,000 Americans died in 2017 from drug overdoses. That is more than all the American casualties during the war in Vietnam.”
Experts say the United States is in the throes of an opioid epidemic with more than 2 million people dependent on or abusing prescription pain pills and street drugs.
Source : CNN
