Doctor going to prison for drug scheme

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An Ohio doctor was sentenced Monday to 57 months in federal prison for writing fraudulent prescriptions for oxycodone for profit from his medical practice in Weirton, W.Va.

Tod Hagins, of Wintersville, Ohio, pleaded guilty in April in federal court in Wheeling to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone as well as health care fraud and money laundering.

Hagins ran a general medical office as well as Weirton Suboxone Clinic. He admitted to prescribing oxycodone to people who had no need for it. Those fake patients then sold it on the streets and kicked back some of the money to the doctor.

He also admitted to writing prescriptions for oxycodone so that West Virginia’s Medicaid program would pay for them, resulting in the health care fraud count. In addition, he deposited $4,000 into a business equity line of credit to be used in the scheme, prosecutors said.

As part of his sentence, Hagins was also ordered to pay a $130,160 judgment.

Bill Powell, the U.S. attorney for northern West Virginia, said in a statement that neither doctors’ “medical license nor their white lab coat” will protect them from the law if they are dealing drugs illegally.

“This doctor violated both our laws and his solemn oath as a physician,” he said.

West Virginia has the highest opioid overdose rate in the U.S.