When a medical professional faces charges of opioid over-prescription, their career, reputation, and freedom hang in the balance. You might be an excellent physician who genuinely tried to help patients manage their chronic pain, but now find yourself accused of contributing to the opioid crisis.
Federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) regularly investigate doctors for allegedly prescribing outside the scope of legitimate medical practice. State medical boards pursue parallel disciplinary actions. These cases can involve accusations of running a “pill mill,” conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, or healthcare fraud, all of which can result in prison time and the loss of your medical license.
Without legal representation, you could lose everything you’ve worked for. At ZMO Law PLLC, our lawyers defend physicians facing these charges, with the goal of protecting your freedom and your practice.
Why Hire Us for Your Opioid Over-Prescription Defense?
At ZMO Law PLLC, our experienced criminal defense lawyers are familiar with both federal criminal law and the practices that guide legitimate prescribing. We use those insights to provide advice and build your defense. Here’s why clients have trust us with their cases:
- Insights: Our attorneys understand how to challenge the government’s mischaracterization of legitimate pain management. We may hire medical experts who can explain why prescribing decisions were appropriate for each patient’s condition.
- Experience with Federal Opioid Cases: We’ve defended medical professionals against federal drug charges.
- Early Investigation and Intervention: We can intervene during the investigation phase of a case and potentially prevent charges from being filed. Our early involvement may allow us to shape how prosecutors view your case from the beginning.
- Familiarity with Federal Agencies: Our attorneys interact with federal prosecutors and agencies and we try to understand their priorities in opioid and prescription drug cases. We can advise you on when to negotiate and when to fight.
- Diligent Case Investigation: We conduct independent investigations using medical experts, forensic accountants, and investigators. In many cases our team will examine patient files, prescription records, and medical decisions to defend your prescribing practices.
We can also coordinate with administrative law attorneys to defend your medical license while protecting you in the criminal case. Our dual approach ensures we’re working to preserve both your freedom and your ability to practice medicine.
Federal Opioid Over-Prescription Charges: An Overview
Federal opioid over-prescription cases typically involve charges under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which requires doctors to prescribe medications for legitimate medical purposes. The government sometimes builds these cases by reviewing prescribing patterns through databases like PDMP (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs) and DEA records. They analyze patient files, prescription records, and billing information to identify what they consider suspicious patterns.
How DEA Investigations Work
DEA investigations into doctors often begin with data from prescription monitoring databases or tips from patients, pharmacists, or former employees. Agents review your prescribing patterns, looking for statistical outliers like high-volume prescribing or patients who travel long distances to your practice. They may conduct surveillance of your practice, interview current and former patients, and send undercover agents to your office posing as patients seeking opioids.
During the investigation, DEA agents will subpoena medical records, prescribing records, bank records, and practice management records to look for evidence of alleged illegal prescribing. The DEA sometimes executes search warrants at a target’s medical practice and home simultaneously, seizing computers, records, and assets while making arrests.
Federal Penalties for Opioid Over-Prescription Convictions
The penalties for opioid over-prescription convictions are severe. Federal prosecutors seek high sentences in these cases, and the collateral consequences can extend far beyond prison time.
Criminal and Financial Penalties
Common criminal charges include:
- Conspiracy to Distribute Controlled Substances: Prosecutors may allege you worked with others to illegally distribute opioids for no medical reason. This charge doesn’t require proof that you physically handed dangerous drugs to patients – organizing, planning, or agreeing to prescribe in coordination with others can be enough. The government often uses this a conspiracy charge to target doctors who they claim operated “pill mills” with staff or other medical professionals. Penalties range up to life imprisonment.
- Distribution of Controlled Substances: This charge alleges you prescribed opioids outside the scope of legitimate medical practice or without a valid medical purpose. Prosecutors review dosages, frequencies, and patient interactions to argue your prescriptions weren’t medically justified. Each individual prescription can result in a separate count, meaning dozens or hundreds of potential charges for active prescribing practices, with each count carrying a high prison term.
- Healthcare Fraud: The government may allege that you submitted false claims to insurance companies or Medicare/Medicaid for illegitimate prescriptions or services. Fraud charges often accompany distribution charges. Prosecutors may claim you altered medical records or documented false symptoms to justify opioid prescriptions for billing purposes, with convictions carrying up to 10 years in prison or more.
- Money Laundering: This charge applies when they claim you used profits from illegitimate prescribing to purchase property, make investments, or move money between accounts. Even legitimate practice income can be targeted if prosecutors argue it’s mixed with alleged illegal drug proceeds, carrying penalties of up to 20 years.
Beyond prison time, you’ll face financial penalties including fines, restitution, and forfeiture of assets the government claims are connected to the alleged crimes. The government may freeze bank accounts, seize real estate, and confiscate other assets before trial based on allegations alone.
Professional Consequences
At the time an indictment is filed, the DEA will typically suspend your controlled substance registration, preventing you from prescribing scheduled medications. State medical boards frequently suspend or revoke medical licenses when doctors are charged with drug-related crimes, effectively ending your medical career. You may also be excluded from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs, making it impossible to treat most patients even if you retain your license.
If You’re Arrested: Critical Steps for Medical Professionals
Being arrested for opioid over-prescription requires immediate action to protect both your freedom and medical career. Here’s an overview of recommended next steps:
- Request an attorney immediately and invoke this right repeatedly if questioned – say “I want my lawyer present” clearly and loudly
- Don’t answer questions about your prescribing practices, patient care, practice details, or medical decisions beyond providing your basic identification
- Don’t consent to searches of your medical records, phone, computer (personal or practice), other electronic devices, or any other property
- Avoid discussing your case with anyone, including other doctors, staff, cellmates, or family on recorded jail calls
- Don’t sign any documents, waivers, or consent forms without an attorney present
Opioid over-prescription charges may result in detention without bail, if prosecutors can show you are a flight risk or continued danger to patients or the community. Your attorney will prepare for your detention hearing with evidence of community ties, family responsibilities, lack of flight risk, and cessation of prescribing practices. Engaging a well-prepared legal representative before your first court appearance can make the difference between release and prolonged detention.
Does Hiring an Attorney Make Me Look Guilty?
No. Retaining legal counsel is your constitutional right and never indicates guilt. Investigators routinely claim that “innocent people don’t need lawyers” or that getting an attorney “looks suspicious,” but these statements are tactics designed to pressure you into making self-incriminating statements. Law enforcement officers routinely use feelings of guilt and fear to convince people to waive their rights and speak without legal representation. It’s virtually never in their best interest to do so.
Investigators already suspect you of misprescribing illicit drugs if they’re contacting you – that’s why they’re investigating. Having an attorney doesn’t create suspicion; it simply prevents you from inadvertently providing investigators with evidence they can use against you. Medical professionals often believe their training and expertise will help them explain their way out of trouble, but investigators are looking for any statements they can use to build a case against you. The significance of a statement made at an emotional time right after you are arrested may not be apparent until much later in the case.
Prosecutors and investigators can’t use the fact that you retained a healthcare fraud defense lawyer as evidence of guilt in court. This well-established legal principle protects your Fifth Amendment rights. When facing a federal investigation, you should have experienced legal counsel guide you through the process and protect your interests from the beginning of the case.
Defenses Against Over-Prescription Charges
With opioid over-prescription charges, the key to the defense is usually demonstrating that your prescribing decisions were made in good faith for legitimate medical purposes. Every aspect of your patient care and prescribing practices must be analyzed and defended.
Medical Justification and Good Faith Practice
Defense strategy often centers on demonstrating that your prescribing decisions were medically justified based on your patients’ conditions, symptoms, and treatment histories. Good faith medical practice also provides a strong defense in opioid cases, as doctors who prescribe opioid medications in good faith for legitimate medical purposes can’t be convicted under the Controlled Substances Act.
To mount a good-faith defense, an attorney will investigate each patient’s medical history, documented pain conditions, and treatment responses, showing that the prescriptions were medically appropriate. We may also investigate whether patients misrepresented their conditions or diverted medications without the medical provider’s participation.
Challenging Government Evidence
The government’s case in opioid prosecutions often relies on flawed statistical analysis and biased witness testimony.
We may challenge statistical analyses by demonstrating that a medical practice’s patient population had legitimate medical needs that required higher-dose or longer-term opioid therapy. We may engage medical experts to review patient files to identify documented pain conditions, failed alternative treatments, and appropriate monitoring that justified prescribing decisions.
Patient and staff testimony requires careful scrutiny, as cooperating witnesses can have strong incentives to help the prosecution. We may investigate the backgrounds of patients who are cooperating with prosecutors, including scrutinizing their history of drug abuse, criminal records, and potential legal benefits from cooperation. Many patients facing their own drug charges will say what prosecutors want to hear in exchange for reduced sentences.
Negotiating with Federal Prosecutors
We engage with the prosecution on your behalf early in the case. In certain situations, we present prosecutors with evidence of good faith medical practice and challenge the government’s interpretation of prescribing patterns. When appropriate, we will negotiate a plea agreement that minimizes or eliminates prison time and preserves your ability to practice medicine in some capacity.
What if My Case Goes to Trial?
If an opioid over-prescribing case goes to trial, ZMO Law will develop a strategy that educates the jury about legitimate medical practice and pain management challenges. In medical cases, we gather and present evidence of your medical training, legitimate patient relationships, appropriate medical monitoring, and good faith efforts to provide quality care.
At trial, we may engage one or more medical experts to explain the challenges of pain management and why prescribing decisions were appropriate for particular patients’ conditions. We challenge the government’s medical witnesses by highlighting their lack of familiarity with your patients and treatment histories. Our cross-examinations seek to expose bias, inconsistencies, and alternative explanations for the evidence.
Civil Forfeiture and Asset Protection
Asset forfeiture and restitution in opioid cases can be economically devastating. The government may tie up property and bank accounts at the beginning of the case based on allegations alone, not convictions. Some asset seizure proceedings run parallel to criminal cases and have different, often lower, standards of proof; others are part of the criminal process. Protecting your assets requires immediate action and legal representation.
In some circumstances, we work with asset seizure attorneys to challenge forfeiture actions by demonstrating that your assets came from legitimate medical practice, not illegal drug distribution. Asset protection requires immediate attention when a person becomes aware of an investigation since the government can freeze assets even before formal charges are filed.
Contact Our Healthcare Defense Attorneys
If you are under investigation or have been charged with opioid over-prescription crimes, please contact ZMO Law PLLC immediately. Time is critical in these cases, as early intervention can sometimes prevent charges or improve the outcome of your case.
Our criminal defense attorneys have successfully defended many medical professionals against federal drug charges and will seek the same outcome for you. Call us today to schedule a consultation with our opioid over-prescription defense attorneys. We’ll review your case, explain the charges you’re facing, and develop a defense strategy aimed at preserving your freedom, career, and reputation in the medical community.