Doctor charged in prescription drug distribution case
A former West Lake Hills emergency room doctor who federal prosecutors say prescribed thousands of doses of prescription drugs without a medical purpose including pills abused by his son, who died of a drug overdose in 2010 has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Documents charging Dr. David James Jacoby, 63, were filed along with a plea agreement in U.S. District Court in Austin late Tuesday and were released publicly Wednesday. Jacoby has not been arrested, and no date has been set for his guilty plea or sentencing, at which he faces up to 15 years in prison.
The federal charge, which comes after Travis County officials determined that no crime could be linked to Jacoby's son's death, is a rare one against a physician for writing improper prescriptions. It was filed as local officials are grappling with an increase in overdose deaths involving prescription drugs.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said: "Although some consider the abuse of prescription drugs to be of a different character than the abuse of illicit drugs, this case is a tragic reminder that drug abuse is drug abuse. And the consequences can be deadly."
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/doctor-charged-in-prescription-drug-distribution-case-2283955.html
[font color=green]The physician is resigning his medical license. The story also states that nearly 29,000 units of hydrocodone being prescribed without medical purpose to 24 individuals associated with the son of the doctor. The muscle relaxant carisoprodal (Soma) was also illegally prescribed.[/font]
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