A Topeka, Kansas, grand jury on Thursday returned a 34-count indictment against a physician who allegedly operated a "pill mill" out of his clinic.
Dr. Stephen J. Schneider, 54, and his wife, nurse Linda K. Schneider, 49, were charged with illegally prescribing drugs in a scheme prosecutors said caused the deaths of at least four patients.
The Schneiders are charged with one count of conspiracy, five counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, 11 counts of health care fraud, 13 counts of illegal monetary transactions and four counts of money laundering.
According to the indictment, 56 of Stephen Schneider's patients have died from accidental prescription drug overdoses in the past five years. However, only four deaths have been found to have been directly caused by drugs Schneider's clinic prescribed, the indictment said.
Schneider is not charged with killing any patients.
The 65-page indictment alleges the doctor and his assistants wrote unlawful prescriptions for narcotic painkillers, muscle relaxers and other drugs. Drugs mentioned in the indictment included fentanyl, methadone, morphine and oxycodone.
According to the indictment, Linda Schneider bragged when interviewing prospective employees that the clinic, with its large number of pain-management patients, wrote more narcotics prescriptions than any other medical clinic in the state.
The indictment also says that Schneider Medical Clinic operated seven days a week and was open for 11 hours daily. Patients were scheduled 10 minutes apart and the clinic billed more than 4 million U.S. dollars to health benefit programs, the indictment says.
Source:Xinhua
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