A federal judge in Pittsburgh has sentenced a physician to more than 11 years in prison and ordered him to pay $700,000 to two insurance companies in connection with charges that he overprescribed painkillers to dozens of patients.
Physician Oliver Herndon pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced Monday.
Federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents raided his palliative care practice in upscale Peters Township earlier this year. That came after 87 of 128 area pharmacies told investigators they were refusing to fill prescriptions from Herndon because they questioned whether the large-scale painkiller prescriptions were medically necessary.
Herndon was ordered to repay the insurance companies $700,000 for covering the unnecessary drugs.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Swiss Re Shares Drop After New Profit Target Falls Short of Expectations 
Death of Teenager on Carnival Cruise Ship Ruled a Homicide 
Applied Systems, Comulate Spar Over Trade Secret Theft Allegations 
In Alabama, Shot Employee Gets No Workers’ Comp and No Employer’s Liability 
