Doctor charged in opioid scheme once fell asleep during surgery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Two doctors from West Michigan are named by federal investigators as complicit in nearly $500 million in fraud and more than 13 million illicit prescriptions.

The U.S. Attorney says the six doctors accused worked out of two Detroit-area clinics.

From early 2013 until last month, the doctorsallegedly prescribed 13.2 million doses of popular opioids, including OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and Dilaudid. They also performed unnecessary medical services like magnetic resonance imaging, unneeded braces and painful spinal injections on patients. 

“Their first obligation is to do no harm and to follow the law and the allegation here is they did neither,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said.

One of the accused doctors is Christopher Russo, a doctor who practiced at the Javery Pain Clinic in Grand Rapids Township until 2016, before he went to Detroit and allegedly committed the acts that caught the attention of the U.S. Attorney.

In 2013, Russo treated Jennifer Light at Javery Pain Clinic. Light says she received unnecessary treatments that caused lasting damage and was prescribed opioids that left her physically addicted.

“I wanna know how many years back this goes, how many patients did these six doctors do this to,” Light said.

Full story on WoodTV.com


View Full Site