Former Florida Pill Mill Doctor Enters Guilty Plea for Manslaughter
Dec 27, 2016
Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) December 27, 2017 – A former Florida doctor already serving time in prison for drug trafficking has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of a patient.
Barry Schultz, 60, entered the guilty plea after being charged with prescribing methadone to David Tain in 2010. Tain died of an overdose three days later. Investigators said Schultz’s actions were “reckless.”
Schultz was given a five-year sentence by a Palm Beach County judge, to run concurrently with the 25-year sentence he is already serving for drug trafficking.
“In addition to criminal charges, pill mill doctors may face civil liability,” said Robert Joyce, a Tampa attorney with Joyce & Reyes. “When doctors, pharmacies and pain clinics improperly prescribe medication that causes injury to patients, the victims or their families may be entitled to compensation through a lawsuit for pharmaceutical negligence.”
In 2015, a jury found Schultz guilty of 55 charges related to a Florida pill mill. Schultz testified that he issued prescriptions for massive quantities of oxycodone and other drugs to help people in chronic pain. Schultz’s attorney claimed that the case against him was a “witch hunt,” arguing that Schultz was trying to help patients and had been caught up in the recent pill mill crackdown. The jury deliberated for three days before finding Schultz guilty on most of the 74 charges he was facing. At least 20 of the charges were punishable by mandatory sentences of 25 years in prison. Schultz also had his medical license revoked.
During Schultz’s trial, prosecutors said he prescribed as many as 20,000 pills per year to patients, without proper medical reasons. Prosecutors are appealing Shultz’s sentence in that case, and Schultz is appealing his conviction.
Learn more at http://www.joyceandreyespa.com
Joyce and Reyes Law Firm, P.A.
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Tampa, FL 33606
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