Texas Doctor Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Overdose Deaths

Howard Gregg Diamond, a 58- year old Texas doctor, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was caught for seven overdose deaths. He wrote prescriptions for powerful painkillers without any real medical purpose.

Diamond pleaded guilty in October to health care fraud and charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

He was a principal physician at the Diamondback Pain and Wellness Centre in Sherman but he treated patients in Collin County. He was arrested in July 2017, after investigators connected him to the death of his patients from 2010 to 2017, reported CBS Local.

Prosecutors said that he started writing prescriptions in 2010 for highly addictive drugs like fentanyl, hydrocodone and morphine. The deaths happened in Texas cities of Abilene, Mckinney and Sulphur Springs and in Oklahoma cities of Ardmore, Hugo, Idabe and Yukon.

In each of these cases deaths happened one month after he issued the pain killers. Dallas News reports that according to court documents, the police found him with a gun and marijuana, two expired passports and three passport applications for his children.

Soon after the arrest the Texas Medical Board suspended his license. According to Federal Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Diamond stands 12th in the nation for the total number of prescriptions written among doctors with his same speciality.

"Physicians like Dr. Diamond have been fueling the opioid crisis in this country," said U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown. "The number of pills that he was putting out on the street was shocking. And in this case, death was linked to those pills. Undoubtedly, others' addictions were worsened, and families suffered as a result. To reduce the impact of opioids, doctors have to take their obligations seriously, and if they don't, there will be more prosecutions like this,” KXII News 12 reported.

The sentence was handed down by U.S District Judge Marcia A. Crone following his guilty plea in October. According to court release, he was convicted after filing claim for reimbursement to Medicare claiming he treated a patient on September 29, 2015 although Diamond was in another state at the time.