An orthopedic surgeon in West Virginia was charged with fraud for narcotic prescription as part of a largescale federal takedown.
Five things to know:
1. The federal government brought a case against the surgeon, who wasn't named in the DOJ release of charges, for allegedly fraudulently prescribing acetaminophen-codeine for his own use.
2. The surgeon allegedly wrote prescriptions with his own DEA number for relatives but kept the pills for personal use.
3. The surgeon used a driver's license stolen from a colleague to pick up the pills at a pharmacy.
4. This case was brought against the orthopedic surgeon as part of the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Strike Force Takedown, which brought charges against 53 medical professionals and 60 individuals total for misused controlled substance prescription and abuse.
The charges covered more than 350 prescriptions for about 32 million pills.
5. A second case in West Virginia charged a physician with distributing narcotics to a patient without medical necessity, and whom the physician did not examine.