Salisbury Township psychiatrist faces prescription drug charges

A psychiatrist who has worked in Salisbury Township and Emmaus was charged with violating prescription laws after an investigation that began with a woman’s death in 2018.

John Francis Mitchell, 70, of Salisbury Township, was arraigned Monday by District Justice Michael Pochron on nine felony counts of unlawful prescribing of controlled substances and four misdemeanor counts of dispensing to persons known to be drug dependent. He was freed on $75,000 unsecured bail and scheduled for a June 9 preliminary hearing.

According to a complaint by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the investigation of the woman’s unattended death turned up 10 bottles of drugs ranging from lithium to oxycodone, all prescribed by Mitchell.

After checking a state-run drug monitoring program, investigators found 15 patients who had been prescribed high amounts of opioids and stimulants by Mitchell.

On July 27, 2018, a warrant was served at his office on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Salisbury Township, where full prescription drug bottles were discovered in what the complaint says was a violation of dispensing laws.

Investigators submitted patient files to another doctor to determine if the prescriptions were appropriate. The review found Mitchell prescribed higher-than-recommended doses, did not have controlled substance agreements outlining the responsibilities of the physician and patient in the use of highly addictive drugs and failed to maintain records of physical exams and diagnostic data supporting the prescriptions.

Mitchell, who once ran the defunct Mitchell Psychiatric Center in Emmaus, has twice been sanctioned by the state over prescribing practices.

In 2006, he faced a threeyear license suspension from the state Board of Medicine for prescribing drugs to a patient he was involved with romantically. He avoided the suspension by agreeing to pay a fine of $7,000 and take a course in “boundary violations.”

In February 2018, the board found Mitchell guilty of “immoral and unprofessional conduct” in prescribing an ADHD medicine at higher-than-recommended dosages, with simultaneous prescriptions of similar drugs. Mitchell lacked adequate documentation to justify the uses of the medicines, the board found. He was ordered to pay costs of investigation of $3,500 and successfully complete 30 hours of remedial education.