A $27.6 million settlement as well as a loss of license were the result of a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company and a psychiatrist for partnering to over-prescribe and administer the drug clozapine. The drug is used, according to the FDA as a last resort for treating schizophrenia. The doctor had prescribed the drug at one point to 75% of the residents at a nursing home with 400 beds.
The lawsuit was brought in 2012 after “at least 140,000 false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for antipsychotic medications he prescribed for thousands of mentally ill patients in area nursing homes. The Department of Justice made the final settlement with the pharmaceutical company and the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation ordered the indefinite suspension of the doctor’s license. For more, read the story.
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Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.
