Indian-origin doctor gets 9 years jail for health care fraud in the US

An Indian-origin doctor has been sentenced to nine years in prison by a US court for committing health care fraud and illegally distributing prescription painkillers. 

Pawankumar Jain, 66, a former physician, was sentenced in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico to nine years in prison and three years of supervised release for unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and health care fraud, US Attorney John Anderson said.

RE: Over $ 600,000 Raised For Treatment Of 13-year-old Indian-American Hate Crime Victim 

Jain previously entered guilty pleas in February 2016 to one count of unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance and one count of health care fraud. In his plea agreement, Jain mitted that he previously was licensed to practice medicine in State of New Mexico and was registered with Drug Enforcement ministration (DEA) to prescribe controlled substances, including pain medication. 

He mitted that for several years he operated a high-volume pain manment practice in Las Cruces, and frequently performed only cursory examinations of his patients before prescribing narcotics to m without documenting any rapeutic benefit for those drugs in his records. 

He specifically mitted examining one patient in vember 2009 and that he conducted only a superficial examination of patient before writing him two prescriptions for methone that were outside usual course of medical practice and t for any legitimate medical purpose. 

Each prescription was for 270 tablets of 10 mg methone. Jain furr mitted that he committed health care fraud because he knew se unlawful prescriptions would be submitted to federal health insurance Medicare for payment and that he intended for Medicare to pay for prescriptions. 

Jain also ackwledged that patient died two days after filling second methone prescription. According to evidence at sentencing hearing, patient died of respiratory depression due to methone Jain prescribed. New Mexico Medical Board suspended Jain's license in June 2012, and revoked his license in December 2012.

Anderson said US law enforcement ncies are committed to working to aggressively target and hold drug traffickers accountable  both those who distribute on street, and those who traffic as physicians writing prescriptions for legitimate medical purpose. 

Doctors who betray our trust and put ir own financial gain ahe of well-being of ir patients by prescribing narcotics without medical justification are directly fueling our nation's opioid crisis, he said.

Special nt in Charge Kyle Williamson of DEA's El Paso Division said that Jain igred oath y take to treat and care for patients who come to m for help, and continued to overprescribe, which eventually resulted in deaths of four patients. 

His sentencing today will send a mess to or doctors that y are t above law and DEA will continue to forcefully pursue and hold m accountable.