A doctor in Appalachian Southern Kentucky pleaded guilty March 18 to 13 counts of prescribing controlled substances without any legitimate medical purpose and outside the course of professional medical practice, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky announced March 22.
Dr. Michael L. Cummings, 63, a family practitioner in Albany,faces a maximum prison term of 145 years, a combined maximum fine of $7.25 million, and three years of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for June 19 before District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers.
Cummings' plea agreement says that in 2012-14, he prescribed the painkillers Oxycodone, OxyContin, Endocet and hydrocodone, the anti-anxiety medicines Valium and alprazolam, the appetite suppressant phentermine, and the sleep aid zolpidem tartrate, all "without any legitimate medical purpose and outside the course of professional medical practice."
Two years ago, Cummings was charged with 18 counts of illegal prescriptions "resulting in the deaths of three patients" in 2014, the U.S. attorney's office said at the time. The news releases used initials to identify the decedents; one of those named in the 2014 release was not named in the latest one. The case was investigated by the FBI and state police, the attorney's office said.
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