A Pennsylvania physician was sentenced to six months in prison and one year of supervised release for his involvement in an opioid fraud scheme.
Brian Gullet, DO, admitted to unlawfully prescribing opioids to patients while practicing at a West Virginia pain management clinic, according to a May 25 Justice Department news release. Dr. Gullet admitted to signing multiple prescriptions for 120 pills of 30 milligrams each and 30 pills of 15 milligrams each to a customer in 2013 who failed multiple drug screenings, reported being addicted to pain medication, bought pills on the street and sold pills obtained from the clinic. Dr. Gullet admitted that the customer's medical chart did not support prescriptions and that the prescriptions were outside of the usual course of professional medical practice.
Dr. Gullett surrendered his medical license and his DEA certificate of registration and agreed not to apply for re-registration to dispense Schedule II controlled substances. In addition to prison and supervised time, he was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
From November 2010 to June 2015, practitioners at the clinic prescribed thousands of oxycodone- and morphine-based pills to customers. Some prescriptions provided customers with an average of four to seven pills per day. Many of the clinic's locations averaged 65 or more customers a day with only one practitioner working, according to the release. In 2018, Dr. Gullett, along with owners, managers and other physicians at the clinic, were indicted. Five other physicians have pleaded guilty and the rest of the defendants await trial.