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Opioid Crisis and Illegal Prescriptions

Missouri medical practitioner Dr. Philip Dean, 62, has pleaded guilty to two felony charges. The first charge is for illegally distributing opiate medications, and the second is for making a false statement to the Medicare program.

Per the plea agreement, Dean operated a medical practice in Warren County, Missouri. During this time, Dean engaged in personal relationships with three different women, with whom he lived over different periods of time.

Over the course of his relationships with the women, Dean prescribed each woman with opioid pain relief medications. The medications included oxycodone, hydrocodone and several forms of fentanyl. The two felony charges from Dean’s plea agreement involve two of the women, referred to as R.W. and C.H., respectively.

Prescription Drug Love Triangle

Dean was aware that R.W. had lost her health care provider license as a result of egregious prescription drug abuse problems. Dean also knew about R.W.'s car accidents and traffic stops by police after driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

Despite this knowledge, Dean prescribed R.W. an assortment of opioid medications. He even prescribed a fentanyl medication that was only approved for medical use by cancer patients with breakthrough pain. R.W. did not have cancer.

In addition, R.W. consumed the 30-day supplies of the prescription drugs before the 30 days elapsed.

Dean knew that prescribing R.W. with overlapping prescriptions for 30-day supplies of opiates would raise suspicion. Therefore, he covered his tracks by prescribing R.W. additional opiates using the name of one of R.W.’s family members.

Each time, Medicare funded the prescriptions, not knowing that R.W. was the recipient and consumer of the medications. Further complicating the matter, Dean personally picked up and paid a co-payment for one of the hydrocodone prescriptions written for R.W., using another patient’s name.

Dean issued C.H. a prescription for codeine, an opiate pain medication and controlled substance, after communicating with her via text message about personal matters. In fact, Dean did not even examine C.H. before issuing the prescription. According to medical records seized during a search of the medical office, C.H. had not visited Dean’s office in almost a year.

Plea Deal Details

In the plea deal, Dean admitted that his opioid prescribing methods exposed the patients to risk of serious bodily injury, especially given the patients’ histories of drug problems.

Dean faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or fines up to $500,000, for the drug distribution. Additionally, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 for the false statement to Medicare.

“This is an outrageous violation of the trust our society commits to physicians," U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen said. "Dr. Dean violated that trust and exploited his drug dependent patients. On top of it all, the taxpayers were forced to foot the bill for his crimes."