A Wichita, Kansas physician was sentenced to life in federal prison on March 8, 2019, in a case tied to the death of one of his patients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.
The doctor, a 57 year old man named Steven who ran the Kansas Men’s Clinic, was convicted by a jury in October 2018. According to the Department of Justice, the convictions included conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs outside the course of medical practice, unlawful distribution of controlled substances, presenting false patient records to investigators, obstruction of justice and money laundering. Prosecutors said he wrote prescriptions without a legitimate medical need and took cash in return.
Court records identify one patient, listed by initials, who died on July 24, 2015, after using methadone and alprazolam that the doctor prescribed. Prosecutors presented that evidence at trial.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten said the doctor’s practice was a pantomime of a genuine doctor patient relationship. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said unlawfully distributing opioids and other controlled substances is a federal crime that could end a medical career, and the case fits into a wider push to fight the opioid epidemic.
The sentence came as federal health officials continued to warn about the toll of opioid overdoses across the country. Cases like this one show how seriously federal prosecutors are treating doctors accused of fueling addiction.
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