A doctor arrested for recklessly prescribing fentanyl, a narcotic painkiller, has been sentenced to a prison term. Another indicted doctor was also fined.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a family medicine specialist in his 50s, initialed as A, to two years in prison and ordered him to pay 6.5 million won ($5,000) in restitution after he was charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act and the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Offenses.
An orthopedic surgeon in his 40s initialized as B, who was also charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act, was fined 50 million won and ordered to pay 790,000 won in restitution.
As a result of the prison sentence, Dr. A is subject to the revocation of his medical license under the revised Medical Services Act.
According to prosecutors, A, a family medicine specialist, prescribed 4,826 fentanyl patches to one patient on 304 occasions between November 2020 and April 2023. Dr. B, an orthopedic surgeon, also prescribed 686 patches to the same patient on 56 occasions from June to November 2021. The two physicians were caught in a joint investigation by prosecutors and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Dr. A was arrested and charged in June and has been on trial.
The amount of fentanyl Dr. A prescribed to the patient, divided by the recommended dosage, is equivalent to 40 years' amount. Prosecutors said the amount prescribed by A was "equivalent to a dose that could kill 40,538 people." However, the doctors prescribed the high-dose fentanyl patches without further examination after hearing the patient’s complaint of severe herniated disc pain. The patient told them he had received the prescription from another hospital.
"Mr. A, a family medicine doctor, is responsible for preventing and strictly managing the misuse of narcotics and other psychotropic medicines as a doctor," the court said. "However, he used his position as a doctor to prescribe narcotics and other medicines for a long time without properly diagnosing the patient and personally benefited from it."
Dr. B also prescribed a high-dose patch to the patient for over a year when he complained of herniated disc pain, even though the physician knew the patient was a motorcyclist. During this time, B did not try any other medication or treatment.
Besides, A was accused of violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Offenses on more than 250 occasions. He had sex with female patients in his clinic and filmed and stored them without their consent for four years from April 2019. The court also ordered him to register his identity for 10 years and complete a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program.