Methadone and Other Narcotics improperly prescribed by alleged Kansas “Pill Mill”
The associated press reported on December 20, 2007 that a Kansas physician, Dr. Stephen J. Schneider, and his clinic, Schneider Medical Clinic, were indicted by a Topeka grand jury on charges including unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and health care fraud. According to the indictment, the doctor and his assistants illegally issued prescriptions for narcotic painkillers, muscles relaxers, and other such medications, including Methadone. It also alleges that fraudulent claims for health care benefits were filed by the doctor’s clinic. If convicted of certain of the charges, Dr. Schneider would reportedly face 20 years to life in prison.
While Dr. Schneider is not charged with murder by the indictment, U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren reportedly said that the defendant(s) “emphasized volume over quality of care” and that the doctor callously referred to patients who died from overdoses as “‘bad grapes’”. According to the indictment, fifty-six (56) of the doctor’s patients have died from overdoses of prescription drugs in the last five (5) years. The clinic reportedly operated seven (7) days a week, for eleven (11) hours a day, and scheduled patients only ten (10) minutes apart. Using this churn and burn “mill” approach to “care”, the clinic succeeded in billing more than $4.24 million to heath benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
The huge billings referenced in the indictment of the Schneider Medical Clinic may explain, in part, the tremendous surge in prescriptions of Methadone which have occurred at pain management clinics in recent years. Given the large number of medications and substances which interact negatively with Methadone, and the fact that patients must be closely and carefully monitored for life-threatening side effects associated with its use - particularly when the medication is first introduced, it is not surprising that a clinic which “emphasize[s] volume over quality care” produced so many deaths. Unfortunately, this clinic is but one example of a serious and growing problem concerning Methadone and other narcotic pain killers here in the United States.
