Doc asks to drop charges in fatal overdose
The defense attorney representing a retired Dracut doctor accused of illegally prescribing opioids that resulted in a patient’s death filed motions to dismiss all charges brought against his client, including one count of involuntary manslaughter.
Boston defense attorney Stephen Weymouth wants the 47 charges filed against Dr. Richard Miron thrown out, claiming the prosecution’s witness — a pain management physician — who testified during the Middlesex County grand jury trial, failed to review and detail the entirety of Miron’s patient medical records.
Weymouth described the physician’s testimony as “outrageous,” and “a slap in the face to a good doctor who practiced 45 years.”
“His testimony consisted of barely 40 pages in the grand jury over 12 patients,” Weymouth said. “There’s no way he reviewed all of the medical records that Dr. Miron meticulously maintained in connection with all of his patients. His opinion was that every problem that each patient presented to Dr. Miron, Dr. Miron’s response was to prescribe opioids and that isn’t true.”
In December 2018, Miron, who was 76 at the time, was indicted by a grand jury on 23 counts of illegal prescribing of controlled substances, 23 counts of filing false Medicaid claims, as well as the most serious charge of involuntary manslaughter.
“For most of the 12 patients, the alleged violations are submitting a Medicaid claim without there being a medical reason to do so, or prescribing medications without a legitimate medical reason to do so,” Weymouth said.
The involuntary-manslaughter charge stems from the death of Miron’s patient, 50-year-old Michelle Craib, on March 17, 2016. Craib was found dead in her Lowell apartment with two fentanyl patches attached to her abdomen. There were also
presciption bottles found at the scene, including morphine, oxycodone and Fioricet with codeine.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Craib’s death was caused by acute intoxication from combined effects of fentanyl, morphine, codeine and butalbital, all prescribed by Miron.
The Attorney General’s office began its investigation into Miron in September 2017 after a referral from MassHealth. Miron was the largest provider of high-dose, short acting oxycodone prescriptions of all MassHealth care providers in the state between September 2015 and February 2016. MassHealth terminated Miron from its program in 2017.
Miron’s is the first case in the state of a doctor indicted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter for illegally prescribing opioids. According to Weymouth, Craib failed to follow the directions provided when taking the drugs she was prescribed, which were provided to deal with a series of medical conditions. He noted Miron had taken a series of steps to ensure Craib didn’t abuse the drugs that were prescribed, including applying to get her a personal-care attendant through Medicaid. “He was very saddened by what happened to Michelle,” Weymouth added. “But he thinks he did the right thing for a very difficult patient.”
According to Weymouth, Miron’s records show “page after page of office notes,” including the drug-screening of potential patients to weed out those attempting to get opioids to abuse.
“Had the (grand jury witness) gone through the records as he should have, and presented those records to the grand jury, I’m of the opinion they would not have voted to return indictments against Dr. Miron,” Weymouth said.
Alexander Bradley, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the motions to dismiss the charges are set to be reviewed in Middlesex Superior Court on Feb. 12.
The trial was scheduled to begin in April, but has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Miron remains free on his own recognizance.