A New York state physician faces 166 charges related to the unlawful prescription of opioids, including one count linking the physician's prescribing practices to six opioid overdose deaths, according to a grand jury's superseding indictment made public Tuesday.
Prosecutors first indicted Eugene Gosy, MD, last year on 114 federal narcotics and fraud charges, alleging Dr. Gosy prescribed millions of opioids without legitimate medical reason at his Williamsville, N.Y.-based pain clinic, according to WGRZ. The new charges issued against Dr. Gosy include one count of unlawfully conspiring to distribute and dispense controlled substance for reasons other than legitimate medical purpose, resulting in the death of six patients who overdosed. The indictment also alleges Dr. Gosy's clinic issued more opioid prescriptions annually than any other clinic or hospital in the state.
"Today's superseding indictment represents the first time that a physician in the Western District of New York has been alleged to be criminally responsible for unlawfully prescribing drugs, which resulted in the death of a patient," said James Kennedy, Jr., acting United States attorney for the Western District of New York. "Sadly, the superseding indictment alleges that more than one patient succumbed to the inadequate and unlawful treatment they received at the hands of Dr. Gosy and those who worked for him. While today's indictment does not represent a panacea, it does provide a powerful antidote directed at one of the root causes of the opioid epidemic."
The charges linking Dr. Gosy's opioid prescribing practices to the patient deaths carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment. The physician could also face a $1 million fine.
"Dr. Gosy did his best to treat them by prescribing medication for their pain, and from what we understand from our investigation, these patients chose to abuse the medication and unfortunately several of them had fatal overdoses," Joel Daniels, Dr. Gosy's attorney, told WGRZ. "But the Government has decided to blame Dr. Gosy, and blame him in these cases involving the deaths of these patients."
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