Louisiana physician convicted of 1.8m opioid doses and $5M health care fraud

A Louisiana federal jury convicted a fraudulent medical practitioner for his part in an opioid and $5m health care fraud scheme.

Adrian Dexter Talbot was at the center of the case surrounding his Medex Clinical Consultants (Medex) company. Based out of Sidell, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, he was responsible for a lengthy fraud scheme, according to court documents and testimonies.

Louisiana medical consultant convicted

Talbot was accused of trading a massive amount of Schedule II controlled substances, such as oxycodone and morphine. The original purpose of Medex was to give those patients looking for pain-relief drugs an opportunity to procure them, but always have a responsible eye in the process.

Medex, according to the court, abandoned its duty of care for those exhibiting red flags or signs of addictive behaviors.

The corrupt owner was not physically present at the Medex facility in Sidel and took a role in Pineville, Louisiana. Talbot was found to have “pre-signed prescriptions, including for opioids and other controlled substances, to be distributed to individuals there whom he did not see or examine.”

Medex also received funds into its account and hired another practitioner in 2016 who continued the fraud. This individual would also pre-sign prescriptions without referral, appointment or examining their specific needs in person.

Talbot falsified the medical records of those registered at Medex. He did not consider the Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana insurers to be duped. The court found that these institutions were billed without Talbot having any medical need or examinations for the highly addictive drug prescriptions.

The jury has convicted Talbot of unlawfully distributing and dispensing “controlled substances, four counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.”

A federal district court judge will sentence him on October 23. He could face a ten-year stint for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and a twenty-year sentence for each other count.

Image: Pixlr.

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