California Outpatient Anesthesiologist Loses Prescribing License Over Vicodin Scam

Scott C. Bickman, an Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based anesthesiologist, will be barred from prescribing controlled substances following his alleged involvement in the purchase and illegal sale of a large number of addictive painkillers, according to an Orange County Register report.

The DEA plans to revoke Dr. Bickman's prescribing registration number, effective April 2009. According to the report, Dr. Bickman was accused of allowing Harrell Robinson, MD, a plastic surgeon, to use his prescribing number to order Vicodin and other drugs in exchange for a $2,000-a-month payment. Dr. Robinson then sold the drugs to a clinic in Santa Ana for $10,000 a month.

Dr. Bickman allowed Dr. Robinson to use his prescribing number for the orders from late 2007 until Oct. 2008, according to the report. At the time, Dr. Bickman worked at Hills Surgical Institute in Anaheim Hills, an outpatient facility that Dr. Robinson owned.

Dr. Robinson agreed to surrender his medical license in 2009 after the California Medical Board accused him of illegally purchasing and selling drugs.

Read the Orange County Register report on Dr. Bickman.

Read more on anesthesia:

-Anesthesia Highest Earner of All Hospital-Based Physician Specialties

-Study: Obese Patients Twice As Likely to Develop Airway Problems During General Anesthesia

-ASA Updates Guidelines on Chronic Pain Management

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