FIVE THINGS ABOUT A DOCTOR WHO PUSHED PILLS, FAKED COVID
After she pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to illegally distributing prescription pain medication, a Virginia doctor got a coronavirus relief loan, some of which she used to pay her legal bills, and lied about being exposed to the coronavirus to delay a hearing. Here's
some background.
1 DO NO HARM
Felicia Donald, 65, was sentenced Tuesday to 84 months in prison. “I am guilty and I know
it,” Donald said in a letter to the judge in Alexandria federal court. “I broke the trust of my profession and failed to live up to my duty.” Donald, an obstetrician-gynecologist, set up a separate addiction centre in 2016 where she liberally distributed opioids to about two dozen people she knew were selling or abusing the drugs, including her sister. Her former assistant and office manager pleaded
guilty to related crimes.
2 DEFENCE'S TAKE
Defence attorney Marvin Miller argued Donald suffered a breakdown while trying to manage two offices and care for an elderly father and mentally ill brother. He emphasized that Donald had volunteered her time performing surgery in rural Virginia and Guatemala, and made less than US$25,000 from her pain practice. She lost her medical licences and her practice. Miller also presented a medical report showing Donald had a brain injury, and interviews with family who said her personality had changed.
3 INCARCERATED
Miller said Donald did not read the paperwork explaining that she no longer qualified for the relief cheque after pleading guilty to two felonies. She has not been charged with fraud over that loan. She was jailed when found to have received the US$88,000 Small Business Administration loan, had practised medicine when she should not have and had spoken to her sister about the case.
4 CONSEQUENCES
After her arrest, she claimed to have been exposed to the coronavirus and later told her sister she made it up. An FBI agent exposed to Donald, believing his immuno-compromised child was at risk, quarantined in a hotel for two weeks.
5 PROSECUTION'S TAKE
Prosecutor Raj Parekh dismissed the defence as retrospective attempts to rationalize Donald's behaviour. “Even the people with whom she was the closest don't know the other side of her, the criminal side,” he said. “She knows what she's doing.”