I hate to say we should follow the Fox Mulder school of paranoia on this, but the evidence is clear. You can go to jail for what others do with your credentials. Being a doctor comes with incredible privileges, or at least it used to. Today, with the corporate takeover of medical care, we work ourselves to death and are left behind if someone is unhappy or has a bad outcome. And sometimes, even if it’s not.
Let's first look at the case of Dr. Wendell Lewis Randall. Dr. Randall is a 71-year-old physician from North Carolina. Dr. Randall owned his own independent medical practice and worked for a group of pain clinics owned by L5 Medical Holdings. These clinics had contacted Dr. Randall to ask if he would be willing to become their medical director. This role would require him to review certain protocols and procedures, but he would not need to work there in person. This seems like a great role for an older doctor with decades of experience.
The problem that most doctors don't realize is that these companies may not want anything from you besides your credentials. Once you fill out all the forms, they have everything they need, including your DEA number and a copy of your signature (on the contract). Now, if they want, they can start calling medicines for “patients” through “telemedicine”. I put that in quotes, not because there is anything wrong with telemedicine. It's a wonderful way to provide about 70 percent of patient care. And patients are in quotes because during COVID a lot of companies have popped up looking to make a quick buck. These companies would test the same people daily for weeks or offer medications for ADD and pain online without an in-person visit. Again. Do not mistake yourself. Many legitimate companies offer these services and I have nothing against companies making money. The problem arises when corporate management starts telling doctors how to practice medicine or, even worse, bypasses them.
Where I draw the line is when a company takes a doctor's information and starts making calls to obtain medications on their behalf without the doctor's knowledge. This is what happened to Dr. Terry Sasaki, a young doctor of Japanese origin working at New York University. Dr. Sasaki was involved in a whistleblower lawsuit with the university when he found evidence that doctors were charging too much for VA care not provided. His reward for speaking out against this was being kicked out of a prestigious combined neurology and radiology residency just before graduation. Basically, he is putting his entire medical career on hold. To stay busy and earn some money, Dr. Sasaki agreed to review files for a telemedicine company. Let me be clear. He never authorized anyone to prescribe anything in his name. But that didn't stop the telemedicine company from doing so, using Dr. Sasaki's DEA number with his complicit pharmacy.
Today, pharmacies are accused of filling controlled drug prescriptions, claiming they “should have known” the prescriptions were unnecessary. This illustrates either profound ignorance or willful blindness to the truth on the part of the government. No pharmacist can ever tell which patient needs which medication or in what quantity. Only a doctor is qualified to do this with Schedule II drugs. Although ANPs and PAs can prescribe Schedule III, etc., a few pharmacists go on to become clinical pharmacists and have this knowledge, but most do not. Doctors are THE experts who know who needs what medications. That being said, it doesn't take a business genius to know that far more people want certain medications than should have them. For the company, these are lost revenue opportunities; for the doctor, these are patients who do not need these medications; and for the authorities, these are good excuses to lock up as many people as possible if they end up getting an order.
In Dr. Randall's case, the government claims that he knew his credentials were being misused and that he “rented” them to L5 with full knowledge that it was a crime. I think it's much more likely that when the DEA approached the owners, Greg Barnes and Duane Dixon, they backed down and agreed to recruit Dr. Randall, sending text messages saying in effect, you know that c Was illegal, wasn't it? To which he replied: “Oh my God! I hope the DEA doesn't find out! » which is of course why texting was invented. So they can follow your every thought, I suppose. This would give the DEA everything it needed to argue mens rea, a guilty mind, on the doctor's part. In that case, a nurse practitioner and another employee named Charles Wilson Adams, Jr. were also convicted. Dr. Randall is said to have received over $300,000 for “renting out” his credentials. It's difficult to reconcile. Why would a 70-year-old professional be willing to risk incarceration for so little reward?
They go on to say that some drugs were Schedule II, like oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone, etc. While also complaining about the Suboxone prescription. Suboxone is a Schedule III opioid partial agonist that is considered by many to be the safest medication for opioid use disorder or addiction. The article stated that Dr. Randall allowed “unqualified medical personnel” to prescribe and treat his opioid addiction. It is a problem. When you prescribe a Schedule II drug, the patient must be seated in front of you and you must sign a paper prescription or send it electronically. Make sure no one has access to your cryptographic key, login, etc. for the electronic system. You can postdate prescriptions, and while this is easy for paper prescriptions, paper prescriptions are easier to forge; electronic prescriptions can also be postdated and must be created on the day you see the patient.
They should also clearly state: “Do not complete before date xxx”. When we had paper prescriptions, I ordered seals to be engraved like a notary and told pharmacies not to accept anything submitted without the seal being placed on the prescription. Dr. Randall will spend 18 of the remaining months behind bars in federal prison. The others will likely be around longer, particularly an unnamed defendant charged with drug conspiracy, health care fraud, wire fraud and making false statements. It's not good, as Buster Scruggs once said. Also, remember to cross-check your name using your state's prescription monitoring programs and any other prescription monitoring programs available. Have your staff compare names with your patient list and take a close look at locations as well. A prescription for 250 Ritalin to someone in Hollywood, CA when you're from Kentucky should stand out. Finally, don't trust anyone, not even the DEA. Here's why.
When Dr. Sasaki realized that the company he had just reviewed records for was using his identity to prescribe drugs, he immediately called the DEA. They told me to come and tell us all about it. He did so, telling them the truth about everything. But just because he told the truth doesn't mean everyone else involved will. If a patient is caught with a bottle with your name on it, they can say, “I forged a prescription” to ensure they'll miss even longer, or they can say, “The doctor Said I could and took some money. ! » and get out of prison free. Now a protected witness, even victim, of a rogue and vile doctor.
I don't mean that the DEA always encourages people to lie to get convictions because sometimes they are willing to lie themselves. Two years after Dr. Sasaki spoke to the DEA, he was indicted and joined everyone else in the company. There was absolutely no evidence against him, but a DEA agent said he “confessed” to accepting money for the scam. Is it hard to confuse “I took money to look at the charts” and “I took money to look away.” They can always say he knew, should have known, or was willfully blind. Stating to a jury that you would never give up your medical career for such a pittance implies that you would if the price was right. You can't win. This is why you shouldn't play at all. Don't try to compete in intelligence with the DEA. They are trained in both deception and the Reid Technique. One method of coercing a confession is based on the principle that the suspect is always guilty. Call your lawyer. Don't talk to anyone else. The stakes are simply too high to get it wrong. Let a professional healthcare attorney with criminal trial experience fight for you.
You wouldn't refer a patient to a dermatologist for brain surgery, so don't put yourself in the wrong hands. Mulder was right: don't trust anyone.
L. Joseph Parker is a distinguished professional with a diverse and accomplished career spanning the fields of science, military service, and medical practice. He currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Advanced Research Concepts LLC, a pioneering company dedicated to propelling humanity into space exploration. At Advanced Research Concepts LLC, Dr. Parker leads a team of experts committed to developing innovative solutions to address the complex challenges of space travel, including space transportation, energy storage, radiation protection, gravity artificial intelligence and medical problems related to space.
He can be reached at LinkedIn And Youtube.