Penn. Doc Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison for Overprescribing Drugs

A federal judge in Pittsburgh has sentenced a physician to more than 11 years in prison and ordered him to pay $700,000 to two insurance companies in connection with charges that he overprescribed painkillers to dozens of patients.

Physician Oliver Herndon pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced Monday.

Federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents raided his palliative care practice in upscale Peters Township earlier this year. That came after 87 of 128 area pharmacies told investigators they were refusing to fill prescriptions from Herndon because they questioned whether the large-scale painkiller prescriptions were medically necessary.

Herndon was ordered to repay the insurance companies $700,000 for covering the unnecessary drugs.