NEW YORK– A Guyanese born doctor is being held without bail after he arrested and accused of selling prescriptions for the narcotic medication, oxycodone.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said the arrest occurred after investigators from the New York State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit executed a search warrant at Anand Persaud’s medical offices in Queens.
The Attorney General said Persaud was arrested at his Baldwin office and was arraigned in Nassau County District Court in Hempstead, Long Island, on Tuesday.
According to the felony complaint, Persaud, 44, is charged with two counts of “criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance,” a Class C felony.
Persaud, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was ordered held without bail.
“It’s unconscionable that a doctor, a trusted licensed professional, would violate his professional duties and abuse his license to traffic in prescriptions for narcotics,” Schneiderman said in a statement.
“My office will hold accountable those who contribute to the growth of the prescription drug abuse epidemic in New York State”, he added.
Schneiderman said Persaud is charged with “selling a prescription for oxycodone without providing medical documentation or conducting a medical examination of his patient on both November 13, 2012 and March 19t, 2013.”
He said New York State law prohibits physicians from prescribing controlled substances, such as oxycodone, “other than in good faith in the course of their professional practice.”Schneiderman said oxycodone is one of a number of “highly addictive opiates”, classified as Schedule II-(b) controlled substances.
Under New York State Penal Law, Scheduled II-(b) controlled substances are considered narcotic drugs.
Schneiderman said Persaud maintained a two-tiered practice. He said Persaud had “medical” patients, those with regular medical issues, who were charged US$110 for an office visit, and “pain management” patients, drug users and addicts, who were charged US$250 or more for an office visit that included a prescription for a controlled substance.
“On both dates in question, Persaud charged a patient US$250 or more to receive a prescription for oxycodone,” the attorney general said.
“Persaud did not conduct a physical examination of either patient or even question them about their need for the medication,” he added.
Schneiderman said both patients were Medicaid recipients eligible for no-cost medical care from Persaud, who is an enrolled Medicaid provider.
By enrolling in the State’s Medicaid programme, Schneiderman said a provider agrees to accept payment from Medicaid as payment in full for all care, services and supplies billed under the programme, except where specifically provided in law to the contrary.
Investigators said they believe Persaud made US$1.4 million from 5,800 office visits in 2011 and 2012 “in which he prescribed the addictive meds to patients”.
