“Dr. Feelgood” was arrested this month in California, charged with murder for allegedly writing prescriptions to tens of thousands of patients who didn’t need them after three young med overdosed and passed away. After a long investigation by the DEA involving undercover work where agents acted like patients and tried to get prescriptions for various prescription pain medication and anti-anxiety medication.
Dr. “Lisa” Hsui-Ying Tseng is charged with overprescribing amongst other drugs, “Xanax” and oxycodone. Reports on file stated that young men went to the physician’s office complaining of back and neck pain, were given brief exams and given drugs.
Her medical office has been open since 2005 and in 2008 was reported by a pharmacy for having problems with the doctor’s scripts. Over a three-year period Dr. Tseng wrote an average of 25 prescriptions a day with three patients dying as a result of overdose and 14 others who survived, all men. Besides the three murder charges, Dr. Tseng was charged with 21 felony counts for prescribing addictive substances without legitimate medical purposes and using fraud. Four of these were for prescriptions written to undercover DEA agents. Locating an effective prescription drug abuse rehab is essential for someone struggling with this type of addiction.
Her prescription writing privileges were suspended in 2010 and she voluntarily gave up her medical license. Her husband, also a doctor, has continued to run the practice.
Dr. “Lisa” Tseng claims she did nothing wrong stating she followed all guidelines and she was strict with her patients. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times she said “If my patient decides to take a month’s supply in a day, then there’s nothing I can do about that.”
The Good Doctor is facing a maximum term of 45 years to life in prison.
This “Dr. Feelgood” is a primary example of the serious substance abuse problem in America where physicians are over-prescribing addictive medications unnecessarily and without cause. These Doctors are paid tremendous amounts of money to write prescriptions with no legitimate medical situations. “Those victims die while the doctor gets rich,” Cooley (the District Attorney for Los Angeles County) said in a written statement.
Murder charges are hard to prove in court, doctors are not necessarily able to “control” what patients do with the prescriptions and this offers these physicians some deniability. Although most doctors are not held liable for their actions, the doctor of Michael Jackson was convicted for involuntary manslaughter for the king of pops death.
Substance Abuse is a nationwide problem and continues to have the attention of the US Government and the President. There are many treatment options available for those who lose themselves to this terrible addiction.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
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