DFW doctors sold unnecessary prescriptions for cash, federal restraining order says
A court has ordered two Garland doctors to stop unlawfully prescribing opioids to people without a medical purpose, according to federal authorities.
Dr. Cesar B. Pena Rodriguez and Dr. Leovares A. Mendez have “fueled and profited from the opioid epidemic” by prescribing patients in North Texas powerful drugs that have been linked to abuse, according to a civil complaint unsealed in the Northern District of Texas on Friday.
Federal officials applied for and received a temporary restraining order against the doctors, who have issued thousands of prescriptions with apparent disregard to patient harm, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
Rodriguez and Mendez are doctors at Cumbre Medical Center, according to Texas Health Resources. They could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.
One of the medications the doctors were prescribing is known as “the trinity” — a dangerous and frequently-abused drug cocktail made up of an opioid, a short-acting benzodiazepine and a muscle relaxer, according to the press release.
“With opioid addiction ravaging communities across the nation, we are going to fight against doctors who are handing out prescriptions like candy,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox. “We are determined to stem the tide of the crisis and we will use all the legal authorities at our disposal — both criminal and civil.”
The complaint against Rodriguez and Mendez says the doctors sold new prescriptions to patients in exchange for $250 cash payments. The doctors unknowingly sold medically unjustified prescriptions to undercover agents in all but one of 25 undercover visits, authorities said.
According to court documents, the doctors’ prescribing practices were widespread and raised multiple warning signs or “red flags” of abuse.
Rodriguez received his medical license in 1993 and Mendez received his in 1999, according to the Texas Medical Board.
In Tarrant County, opioid-related deaths more than doubled between 2010 and 2016. In 2016, the opioid-related death rate was 4.9 per 100,000 people, up from 2 deaths per 100,000 in 2010.