73-year-old Livonia doctor sentenced for illegally prescribing opioid pills
(WJBK) - A 73-year-old Livonia doctor will spend eight years in prison for her role in providing prescription pills illegally.
Authorities say Dr. Fanny Dela Cruz owned and operated a medical, and admitted to writing hundreds of thousands of phony perscriptions.
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade says Dr. Dela Cruz admitted that she would write pre-signed prescriptions and leave the patient name blank. She would then sell the slips and the patient name would be filled in for someone who had not been examined by Dr. Dela Cruz. The doctor visits, other tests and the costs associated with filling the prescriptions, though, were fraudulently billed to Medicare.
Dr. Dela Cruz was the number one prescriber of Oxycodone and Oxymorphone in the State of Michigan in 2015.
In a 13-month period, Dr. Dela Cruz issued the following controlled substances: approximately 577,707 dosage units of Oxycodone HCl; 333,394 dosage units of Oxymorphone; 35,185 dosage units of Alprazolam and 663,778 milliliters of Promethazine with Codeine.
Dr. Dela Cruz has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute prescription pills illegally and to defraud Medicare.