Doctors Have Been Prosecuted for Endangering Their Patients With Black Market Medicine
Between 2012 and 2017, the FDA warned more than 3,000 medical practices to stop buying medicines from unlicensed foreign wholesalers who had been caught selling counterfeit drugs. Patients who encounter these drugs go under-treated and untreated, which can be catastrophic; at worst, they may be poisoned.
Buying non-FDA approved drugs can be catastrophic for medical practices, too. Since 2005 and mid-2018, 59 doctors were prosecuted for crimes related to purchasing non-FDA approved medications, treating patients with illegally imported drugs, and/or fraudulently billing Medicare and private insurance as if they had purchased these drugs legally and at full price. 57 of those prosecuted were fined a combined total of $37.5 million. 16 received prison sentences.
Learn More About Doctors' Prosecutions
The Rhode Island Department of Health announced an investigation of 28 providers in 10 Rhode Island OB-GYN medical offices who had illegally imported non-FDA approved IUDs and inserted them into patients. Among the practices named were OB-GYN Associates, Inc, Bayside OB-GYN, Inc., and Center for Obstetrics & Gynecology, Inc. The Rhode Island Department of Health required the practices to surrender the IUDs, provide the names and medical records of all patients who had had a non-FDA approved IUD inserted or removed and notify all of the affected patients. Who: Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA_OCI), Rhode Island…
Five Capital Region doctors were convicted in federal court today on charges of misbranding drugs after they admitted to using a cheaper Botox substitue on unsuspecting patients, reports CBS News. The Plastic Surgery Group, LLP, of Albany(TPSG), pleaded guilty to the charge after an investigation found the doctors in the practice had been injecting patients with TriToxin, a Botulinum toxin Type A manufactured by Toxin Research International (TRI) of Arizona, the owners of which are currently jailed on counterfeit drug and mail fraud charges, reports the FDA. The Plastic Surgery Group misrepresented the TRI toxin as genuine Botox. By S. Imber
Dr. Bayardo Cruz pleaded guilty to purchasing imported Mexican IUDs from a company called Universal Services. These devices cost $30 each, a substantial discount from the FDA approved versions, which ranged from $300 – $400 each. Cruz inserted 110 of the black market IUDs in his patients, but continued to bill Medi-Cal for the legitimate ones. He submitted and received $38,000 in fraudulent claims from Medi-Cal. He was sentenced to probation, 150 hours of community service, and restitution in the amount of $38,000. In June 2012 Cruz’s medical license was revoked. Who: FDA OCI, California Medi-Cal Investigators. When: May 2009,…
In May 2009, Dr. Vinod Patwardhan, an oncologist working in Upland and Chino, California, was found guilty by a jury of smuggling foreign, misbranded cancer drugs into the United States and administering them to his patients. Between 2004 and 2008, Patwardhan purchased $1.3 million worth of injectable cancer drugs from foreign sources. He and his employees made at least 34 trips to India, Honduras, Panama and the Philippines to collect the drugs and smuggle them into the United States. Patwardhan’s employees stated in court that he brought smuggled medication which required refrigeration to his office in gym or shopping bags.…
State Attorney General Troy King will review the case of a former Montgomery physician cited for giving more than 90 fake flu shots and will decide whether to take legal action. By Phillip Rawls December 13, 2005 Read the full story at al.com.
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