A Weston, Fla.-based physician was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for running a pill mill.
Osmin Morales, MD, ran a purported pain management clinic where he issued medically unnecessary prescriptions for controlled substances to most patients who sought them, the Justice Department said April 29.
Dr. Morales prewrote many prescriptions for controlled substances, principally oxycodone, morphine, and alprazolam, and gave them to office staff to hand out for cash payments of $250.
According to the report, former patients said they often obtained prescriptions without seeing Dr. Morales. Additionally, Dr. Morales was out of the country for many of the purported medical examinations where he described patients' symptoms.