US: Indian-origin doctor held for illegal distribution of substances

A doctor of Indian origin along with a nurse has been accused of indictment charges as they were involved in the illegal distribution of controlled substances. The controlled substances generally are drugs and chemicals monitors by the government or prescribed under medication only if they fall under the law. 

Charged in an indictment 

The Indian origin doctor named Hemal Mehta, 49 and the nurse Heather Marks, 36, belong to Tennessee. They were charged in an indictment in a case filed last week in the Middle District of Tennessee. They were a total of ten charges, one was to unlawfully conspire to distributed drugs and rest nine to illegally distribute the controlled substance. Brian Benczkowski, who is the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division informed international media.

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Unlawful distribution of the controlled substance

The indictment revealed that Mehta and Marks distributed controlled substances between 2016 and 2018. Hemal Mehta was responsible for the entire conspiracy to unlawfully distribute drugs which included oxycodone, morphine sulfate, and oxymorphone. These drugs were prescribed to patients outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose as reported by PTI. These controlled drugs belong to the class of Oxymorphone, which is considered a strong semi-synthetic opioid analgesic. These drugs help in the management of severe pain and are usually prescribed in cases of chronic cancer. 

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The doctor and the nurse were also alleged to distribute oxycodone and oxymorphone on several occasions. The case is still under investigation, and they are no clarity about why they choose to distribute the controlled substances. 

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Indian-origin doctor charged with criminal charges 

In another incident reported a week ago, an Indian -origin doctor residing in Singapore was charged with criminal charging for causing the death of one of his patients back in 2014. The doctor was accused of prescribing medication to the patient without following the necessary medical tests. It was reported that the doctor named Haridass Radass, who is a general physician practising at Tekka Clinic Surgery in Little India shopping precinct was held responsible for prescribing 10 tablets of methotrexate, along with a chemotherapy agent and an immune system suppressant without conducting the necessary tests. 

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