Pennsylvania doctor charged with 46 counts, called "a danger to the public"

The state has temporarily suspended the license of a Montgomery County physician, saying he is a danger to the public after he was arrested and charged with prescription fraud.

The board suspended Ruth's license Oct. 4 at the request of the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, an arm of the Pennsylvania Department of State.

About three weeks later, police charged Ruth, 76, with 46 counts, including prescription fraud, prescribing to a drug-dependent person, prescribing in bad faith, identity theft, corrupt organizations, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, insurance fraud and criminal conspiracy.

Ruth is "an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety," according to a petition filed by attorney Andrew Demarest of the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.

The petition says that on Aug. 30, an investigator with the Department of State interviewed Ruth "concerning his prescribing of large amounts of oxycodone and amphetamine." The interview detailed Ruth's "cavalier attitude relating to his prescribing of highly addictive drugs in large amounts to his patients," the petition says.That same day, Telford police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration executed subpoenas and search warrants at Ruth's office. According to the petition:

Ruth told the investigator he does not obtain a complete medical history of a patient or perform a physical exam prior to writing controlled substance prescriptions. He said he "accepts his patient's complaints of pain at face value" and doesn't verify their complaint by obtaining past medical records.

Ruth said he allows patients to "dictate" their preference and strength of their medications.

"He admitted his liberal rewriting of oxycodone prescriptions at the patient's request when the patient made excuses, such as the dog ate the patient's medication," the petition says.

It says Ruth does not perform urine screenings to test the oxycodone level in his patient's blood despite "repeated reports of lost or stolen medication."

An unidentified patient interviewed during the state's investigation said he resumed treatment with Ruth five years after his most-recent visit, and Ruth did not take an updated medical history, perform a physical exam or even check his vital signs.

The patient said he lied to Ruth by telling him another doctor had prescribed him Adderall, a controlled substance used for attention-deficit disorder, "for energy." Ruth never checked the patient's record with the other physician, but prescribed him Adderall and wrote a diagnosis of ADD on the patient's insurance billing statements, the petition says.

It says that at the patient's request, Ruth also wrote "bogus" prescriptions for the man in his wife's name.

According to a news release from the Montgomery County district attorney's office, several police departments and state and federal authorities started investigating Ruth while probing drug crimes and overdoses.

Authorities said they received complaints from several pharmacies in Montgomery and Bucks counties about Ruth "overprescribing a large quantity of oxycodone to young people who did not fit the profile of a patient in such need of a high amount of narcotics."

"Investigators learned some family members of patients contacted Dr. Ruth and asked him to discontinue prescribing narcotics to their drug-addicted loved ones," the news release says. "The investigation revealed Dr. Ruth ignored these requests and continued to prescribe oxycodone and other drugs to these patients … . Ruth knew, or should have known, these patients and others were addicted to or engaged in selling prescription medications."

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NeighborhoodThreat said:

Prescribing a drug to an addicted person is a crime?

What?

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Roger&Me said:

Frankly I'm *much* more concerned with physicians overprescribing antibiotics than narcotics; but I've yet to see any doctors lose their license for prescribing too many z-packs.

It pisses me off that most people respond to issues like this emotionally rather than rationally. There are much bigger problems in the world, and in healthcare specifically, than some old croaker who writes too many oxy scripts. That fact seems completely and totally obvious to me.

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