Dr. Howard S. Weiss, a psychiatrist from Englewood, Colorado was indicted by a federal grand jury on 120 criminal charges. He has pleaded not guilty
A doctor prescribed more than 10,000 pills to a single patient in a three-month period, including 9,000 doses of Adderall and hundreds of Xanax and muscle relaxant tablets, while operating a ‘cash-only’ practice, it’s been alleged.
Dr. Howard S. Weiss, a 66-year-old psychiatrist from Englewood, Colorado was indicted by a federal grand jury on 120 criminal charges, according to court documents from the US District Court in Denver.
Weiss has pleaded not guilty to the charges in court on Friday. He later posted $100,000 bond.
According to federal prosecutors, Weiss charged patients between $650 and $850 per visit when they went to see him at his clinic in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village.
The federal government alleges that Weiss even charged those sums when seeing indigent patients who relied on Medicaid, the low-income, government-subsidized program.
He would then prescribe them powerful opioids and other drugs that are considered highly addictive, including methamphetamine, mixed amphetamine salts, according to the indictment.
Federal prosecutors allege that Weiss prescribed one of his patients 9,000 Adderall pills, 480 pills of the muscle relaxant Soma, and 480 Xanax tablets within a three-month period
The indictment was unsealed last week by the US District Court in Colorado
‘Between approximately August 2013 and June 2019, the defendant, Howard Weiss, distributed controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate purpose,’ federal prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
‘Weiss prescribed high doses of benzodiazepines to individuals who were also taking opioids or who were being treated for opioid abuse,’ the indictment alleges.
‘He did this despite the fact that those substances in combination put those individuals at greater risk for potentially fatal overdoses.’
At least one of Weiss’ patients died of an overdose, according to the indictment. The patient’s name is not mentioned and Weiss has not been charged with any crime linked to that person’s death.
Weiss was also alleged to have prescribed ‘high doses of controlled substances without first attempting lower doses and without first attempting alternative therapies,’ the indictment states.
Federal prosecutors allege that Weiss would even prescribe these drugs to patients even when told by their probation and parole officers that those individuals had a prior history of substance abuse.
The indictment alleges that Weiss ‘performed cursory examinations and therapy sessions designed to superficially create the appearance of a legitimate practice.’
‘Weiss, after conducting the sham sessions, failed to properly verify the putative complaints of individuals seeking controlled substances, failed to properly document symptoms that would justify his diagnoses, and failed to properly document legitimate reasons for changes in controlled substance prescriptions,’ according to the indictment.
According to federal prosecutors, Weiss charged patients between $650 and $850 per visit when they went to see him at his clinic in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village (above)
Weiss was allowed to practice medicine in Colorado even though his medical license in Virginia was suspended after he was convicted in federal court on a mail fraud charge that involved fraudulent billing
The court documents allege that Weiss improperly prescribed drugs to 16 patients.
One of them was given prescriptions for 9,000 Adderall pills, 480 prescription pain pills of the muscle relaxant Soma, and 480 Xanax tablets, according to the indictment.
Weiss was allowed to practice medicine in Colorado even though his medical license in Virginia was suspended after he was convicted in federal court on a mail fraud charge that involved fraudulent billing, the reported.
He was sentenced to three years probation for the charge and ordered to pay more than $35,000 in restitution to Medicare and two insurance companies.
