Chiropractor receives 15 years for fraud, illegally writing prescriptions
ACentral Florida chiropractor was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison Wednesday for illegally prescribing powerful drugs to patients, while also committing health-care fraud.
Federal authorities said Joseph Wagner committed insurance fraud out of his Volusia County chiropractic clinic for years, defrauding droves of patients and dozens of insurance companies, including Medicare.
Wagner is prohibited from prescribing controlled substances such as the addictive painkiller oxycodone because he is a chiropractor and not a licensed medical doctor in Florida.
But Wagner repeatedly prescribed the powerful pills to patients using another doctor’s name, authorities said.
In July 2010, one of Wagner’s patients accidentally overdosed within days of being prescribed painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxers.
The patient lived, and five months later, another patient was hospitalized after she had a seizure due to Xanax withdrawal.
On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney DanIrick told the court there wereabouta dozen patients who overdosed on controlled substances prescribed by Wagner.
Authorities began investigating Wagner in 2009, when the state received complaints from insurance companies that he was billing for services never rendered.
Wagnerpleadedguilty to three of the95 charges he faced: health-care fraud, conspiracy to distribution of a controlled substance and money laundering.
During his sentencing Wednesday, the 63-year-old stood in navy jail scrubs and wept as he apologized to an Orlando federal judge. “I am truly, truly sorry for injuring people,” Wagner said.