The federal prosecutor for Middle Tennessee said in a press conference Thursday that he is cracking down on “drug dealers with stethoscopes.”
U.S. Attorney Don Cochran indicted nine Middle Tennessee doctors, nurses and a pharmacist for, in part, illegally prescribing opioids.
He said he is working to remove doctors who are a threat to their patients.
In 2017, 6.8 million opioid prescriptions were written across Tennessee. That’s one prescription for every man, woman and child. The number is the second highest number in the country.
There were also 1,300 opioid overdose deaths in Tennessee in 2017. Cochran said most, if not all, of those people started with a prescription for opioids.
Cochran said since he took office last year, he has tried to decrease the tragic numbers.
“There’s a lot of talk about the safety of 737 airplanes and I think we’re effectively having a 737 crash every single day,” Cochran said at the press conference. “175 or so people die a day in this country and yet it’s something that isn’t on a lot of people’s radar screens.”
Cochran said that greed drove the illegal prescriptions for the nine people he indicted.
“For a very small percentage of medical professionals I think it becomes a very lucrative thing to do,” he told News 2. “They don’t do it for any other reason other than there’s a whole lot of money in it. Unfortunately for that very small group of folks who literally prescribe death for the patients we have to take action.”
Cochran said the investigation into the nine medical professionals is ongoing. One doctor, Dr. Darrel Rhinehart who practiced in Columbia, Tennessee, had four patients die of opioid overdoses while in his care.
He said murder charges are not off the table.