A Florida doctor and three of his employees were arrested earlier this month on federal drug charges they illegally gave patients prescription drugs at clinics across Florida. Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander operated Neurology & Pain Center clinics in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota,  Lakeland, Orlando and Jacksonville.

A federal grand jury indicted Friedlander, his physician’s assistant, an emergency medical technician and the office manager of giving prescriptions for narcotics to known drug addicts.

Friedlander’s indictment comes on the heels of drug charges against another Tampa Bay area physician for similar events.

The indictment alleges that the four defendants conspired to distribute oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone and Aprazolam (commonly known as Xanax) without a valid medical purpose and outside the course of professional practice, beginning in 2005.

Friedlander, who is from Palmetto, was certified to practice in internal medicine, pain management, neurology, and vascular and interventional radiology. He, and his employees, practiced out of a different clinic each day of the week.

Prosecutors claim that Friendlander dispensed the prescription drugs without adequately verifying a patient’s identity, medical complaint and patient history and without performing an adequate mental or physical exam. They also allegedly did not establish treatment plans or maintain accurate medical records.

One particularl salacious detail from the indictment: the defendants allegedly gave patients pre-signed blank prescription forms and allowed them to fill in their controlled substance of choice and dosage amount.

Each defendant faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the charges.

Drug Charges

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Florida Criminal Law News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.