Dentist Faces Federal Charges After Patient’s Death

A Crescent Springs dentist is facing federal charges for allegedly distributing drugs inappropriately which resulted in the death of a patient.

The dentist owns the Northern Kentucky Dental Center and practiced dentistry for more than 30 years.

He faces four counts of improperly prescribing oxycodone or morphine sulphate and one count of distributing morphine sulphate that led to a death.  A 24-year-old woman overdosed and died after the dentist wrote her four opioid prescriptions in a month, three of them in a five-day period, a prosecutor said in a court motion. From August 4, 2020, to Aug. 26, 2020, the dentist allegedly distributed a total of 60 oxycodone pills and 48 morphine sulfate pills to a patient. According to court papers, the prescriptions were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose and “outside the scope of professional practice”.

A dental expert told federal authorities that in his opinion, the dentist’s conduct was “shockingly outside the usual course of professional practice for a dentist,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher M. Jason said in one motion. The dentist, who operates four dental clinics in Northern Kentucky, has pleaded not guilty. The charge of improper prescribing leading to a death carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.