Here are five things to know:
1. Mohammed Shariff, the former owner of the Midtown Medical Center, a now closed medical clinic, pleaded guilty to a felony count of, “conspiracy to knowingly dispense controlled substances outside the usual course of private practice and without medical purpose,” according to the Sun Times.
2. Midtown’s physician, Theodore Galvani, MD, allegedly sold oxycodone, hydrocodone and prescription pills without medical reason, under Mr. Shariff’s direction. The prescriptions often occurred without conducting medical tests or physicals, and according to the report, Dr. Galvani at times met with 70-plus patients per day.
3. Dr. Galvani previously pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges but has not yet been sentenced.
4. Patients typically paid up to $200 in cash for prescriptions, and the co-conspirators admitted to prescribing more than 595,000 hydrocodone pills and 190,000 Xanax pills.
5. The scheme brought in $584,000, and Mr. Shariff took $292,094, according to the report. The two also prescribed pills to Medicare patients and then submitted false claims.
6. Mr. Shariff could receive up to 20 years in prison and pay a $1 million maximum fine.
More articles on opioids:
Opioid prescriptions fall by 25%, Scripps Health reports
Geisinger launches opioid reduction initiative
Massachusetts lost $15.2B to opioid epidemic in 2017
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