Indian-origin Doctor Jailed for 2 Years for Prescribing Thousands of Unnecessary Painkillers

Kumar further admitted that he submitted false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicare for Medicare beneficiaries that he did not personally examine or for patients he only briefly examined.

Kumar also admittedly prescribed drugs that were not medically necessary and which were paid for by the federal health insurance programme. Kumar admitted that between February 2013 and January 2016, he prescribed 23,826 pills of the opioid drug hydrocodone and 38,459 pills of the muscle-relaxer carisoprodol without a legitimate medical purpose.

Kumar directed his office staff who were not medical professionals to issue prescriptions for these drugs to patients even though Kumar had not examined the patients. Kumar also instructed his office staff to issue prescriptions for opioid drugs by instructing his staff to sign Kumar's name on prescriptions and by providing his staff with pre-signed prescriptions.

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In one instance, Kumar examined a patient only on the very first visit and thereafter on a monthly basis, for approximately a year-and-a-half, he caused prescriptions to be issued to the patient for hydrocodone and carisoprodol, even though Kumar did not actually see the patient for a subsequent physician examination.

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