Michigan Doctor Arrested: Prescribed to 250 patients in one day

Michigan Doctor prescribed more than 5 million doses of Schedule II and Schedule III narcotics between 2008 and 2010.

A medical doctor has been charged with unlawfully distributing prescription drug controlled substances, including the Schedule II prescription drug OxyContin (oxycodone), and health care fraud, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Robert L. Corso, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Detroit Field Division.

The complaint alleges that between April 1, 2008 and March 24, 2010, Linares prescribed more than two million dosage units of Schedule II narcotics and more than one million dosage units of Schedule III narcotics. He then increased his prescribing activity, prescribing an additional 2 million dosage units of Schedule II drugs between June and October of 2010. Linares also fraudulently billed Medicare for more than $5.7 million between 2008 and 2010, submitting patients to medical tests without regard to their symptoms or medical conditions.

According to the Complaint, the defendant prescribed controlled substances for as many as 250 patients per day, paying bonuses to his employees when the number of patients in a single day exceeded 200. Based on undercover patient visits, employee interviews and former patient interviews, the complaint alleges that Linares actually saw very few of the patients, and even when he briefly saw a patient, there was no legitimate examination or doctor-patient relationship. The complaint alleges that when Linares learned that patients were selling their prescriptions in the parking lot, he refused to do anything, stating that he was “not the police”. The complaint alleges that the defendant told his employees that he was building an empire, staing “We are untouchable” .

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