Man suing clinic over Suboxone prescriptions

A former patient of a Washington County-based opioid addiction treatment clinic sued the clinic’s owner, manager and a doctor in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

James Reiland, of Allegheny County, alleges that the three defendants conspired to keep him reliant on Suboxone to make a profit as part of a larger scheme to peddle Suboxone prescriptions to addicts in exchange for cash.

All three defendants — owner Jennifer Hess, manager Christopher Handa and former doctor Madhu Aggarwal — have already pleaded guilty to federal crimes in connection with the scheme.

Mr. Reiland was a clinic patient from November 2013 until June 2016, according to the lawsuit, which says his drug addiction worsened during that time because he did not receive appropriate care.

He saw a physician “rarely, if ever,” and was “continually issued Suboxone” by nonmedical personnel. The clinic failed to provide substantive addiction counseling, ignored failed drug tests and failed to properly adjust Mr. Reiland’s dose of Suboxone, according to the lawsuit.

Mr. Reiland left the clinic in 2016, according to the suit, and marked a year of sobriety in June.

Federal authorities believe many patients were treated similarly at the clinic’s five locations, spread across Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Five doctors were indicted in 2018, including Aggarwal and her husband, Krishan Aggarwal, who was acquitted at trial in West Virginia.

He and another doctor were prosecuted in West Virginia and acquitted. Two other doctors pleaded guilty.

The doctors presigned prescriptions and were not in the office when they were written. They were paid in cash based on patient visits and number of scripts written.