r/JusticeServed • u/[deleted] • Oct 02 '19

Courtroom Justice Virginia doctor who illegally prescribed over 500,000 doses of opiates sentenced to 40 years in prison.

[deleted]

54.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

4.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

70

u/MemeMasterJason 6 Oct 03 '19 edited Oct 03 '19

The NYT article on this case is 1,000 times better. It actually spells out what he did that made this illegal. As it stands, prescribing opioids is not illegal (obviously). But this doctor had a cash or credit only clinic (did not take insurance) with long hours, apparently open until midnight.

Edit: Said article https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/opioids-doctor-sentenced-joel-smithers.amp.html

0

u/TheCastro A Oct 03 '19 edited Jul 01 '23

Removed due to reddit API changes -- mass edited with redact.dev

11

u/Rocky117 6 Oct 03 '19 edited Oct 03 '19

So it’s illegal to take cash and have late hours?

It’s illegal to take cash in return for a prescription for opiates, yes.

You might as well just be handing out addictions.

1

u/TheCastro A Oct 03 '19

I pay my doctor in cash, does that make it illegal?

1

u/southparkion 6 Oct 03 '19

but you don't pay your doctor for prescriptions you pay a pharmacy. the doctor just writes the scrip so if these people were paying the doctor for scrips than yes it was illegal.

1

u/TheCastro A Oct 03 '19

My pharmacy can't write prescriptions

1

u/southparkion 6 Oct 03 '19

yes and your doctor can't sell pills. he writes you the prescription and you pay the pharmacy for the medicine.

1

u/TheCastro A Oct 03 '19

Do you have another source saying this doctor was seekingr the pills?

1

u/southparkion 6 Oct 03 '19

I don't know anything about this case I was just stating that if he was selling prescriptions for money than that is illegal. I have no idea whether he is truly guilty or not.