Two doctors who operated a pain management clinic on the Alabama coast are facing time in federal prison after being convicted of running what authorities describe as a pill mill.
Jurors in Mobile returned the verdict Feb. 23 against Drs. John Patrick Couch and Ziulu Ruan.
The two physicians were convicted on 19 of 20 counts after a trial that lasted a month.
Authorities accused the two of prescribing dangerous amounts of painkillers at their clinic, Physician’s Pain Specialists of Alabama.
Federal investigators raided the operated in 2015, prompting days of pickets by patients. An indictment accused the two doctors of writing almost 67,000 prescriptions for painkillers in 2014, or one about every four minutes.
Jurors convicted the men on charges including drug distribution, conspiracy, health care fraud and money laundering.
Topics Alabama
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