Feb 2 (Reuters) - A Virginia doctor who prescribed more than 500,000 opioid doses in less than two years had his conviction and 40-year prison sentence thrown out by a federal appeals court on Friday, because the jury instructions misstated the law.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia also ordered a new trial for Joel Smithers, 41, who has been serving his sentence in an Atlanta prison.
Overprescription of painkillers is one of the main causes of the nation's opioid crisis. Nearly 645,000 people died in the United States from overdoses involving opioids from 1999 to 2021, including
80,411, opens new tab in 2021 alone, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prosecutors said Smithers prescribed controlled substances including fentanyl, hydromorphone, oxycodone and oxymorphone to every patient he saw at the Martinsville, Virginia office he opened in August 2015.
