Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-04T22:37:56.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Criminal Law: Physician Convicted for Recklessly Prescribing OxyContin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Kathleen Romanow
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Dr. James Graves was convicted of manslaughter, racketeering, and drug charges in association with overdose deaths of four of his patients from the painkiller OxyContin. A Florida court then sentenced the physician to 62.9 years in prison. This is the first criminal conviction of a doctor in the United States related to OxyContin deaths.

Dr. Graves, who ran a pain management office, was charged with recklessly writing prescriptions to those that could afford an office visit and failed to ask appropriate questions beforehand. Prosecutors in the case said that the physician prescribed drugs like OxyContin to as many as ninety patients a day, after only a short office visit. The prosecution claimed that Graves was “‘selling prescriptions for cash without any real examination, diagnostic testing, or follow-up, no consultation, no real assessment of their medical needs.’”

Type
Recent Developments in Health Law
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , Spring 2003 , pp. 154 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Florida v. Graves, No. 01-422-CFA (Fla. Cir. Ct. Feb. 20, 2002); Scandlen, M., “Graves Guilty: Pace Doctor Convicted in 4 Drug Deaths,” Pensacola News Journal, February 20, 2002, available at <http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/022002/Local/St001.shtml>..>Google Scholar
Florida v. Craves, No. 01-422-CFA (Fla. Cir. Ct. March 22, 2002) (sentencing); Douglas, D., “Physician Receives Nearly 63-Year Prison Sentence for OxyContin Deaths,” BNA's Health Law Reporter, 11, no. 13 (March 28, 2002): 469.Google Scholar
Douglas, , supra note 2.Google Scholar
Scandlen, , supra note 1. See also Albert, T., “Florida Physician Guilty of Manslaughter in OxyContin Case,” American Medical News, March 11, 2002, available at <http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_02/prl20311.htm>..>Google Scholar
Douglas, , supra note 2.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.; Scandlen, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Florida v. Graves, No. 01–422-CFA (Fla. Cir. Ct. Feb. 20, 2002); Albert, supra note 4.Google Scholar
Ritea, S., “Toughened Regulations for OxyContin Proposed,” The Times-Picayune, April 10, 2002, at 5. See also Crane, M. and Cadwaller, B., “More Overdose Deaths Blamed on Painkiller,” The Columbus Dispatch, January 6, 2002, at 1A; Tangney, C., “9 Indicted in Drug Robberies, AG: OxyContin was Targeted,” The Boston Globe, March 29, 2002, at B15.Google Scholar
Albert, , supra note 4.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Douglas, , supra note 2.Google Scholar
“Purdue Says Two OxyContin Suits Withdrawn, Other Lawsuits Will Be Resisted ‘Vigorously,’” BNA's Health Law Reporter, 11, no. 2 (January 10, 2002): 55.Google Scholar
Id. See also “West Virginia Sues OxyContin Makers, Claims They Exacerbated Addiction Problem,” BNA's Health Law Reporter, 10, no. 24 (June 14, 2001): 923.Google Scholar
Freeman, L., “Medical Professionals: Conviction Not Cause for Tougher Regulations,” Naples Daily News, March 9, 2002, available at <http://naplesnews.com/02/03/naples/d774952a.htm>..>Google Scholar
Albert, , supra note 4.Google Scholar