Doctor admits writing illegal prescriptions for painkillers
A Las Vegas physician pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to unlawfully distributing prescription painkillers at his clinic.
Mahesh Kuthuru, 47, of Henderson pleaded guilty to one of nine drug distribution counts in an indictment unsealed last October. He acknowledged that he wrote illegal prescriptions for the painkillers, including oxycodone, to undercover officers from his Desert Pain Management clinic in Las Vegas.
"I was reckless in my management of the pain clinic," Kuthuru told U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey.
Kuthuru, who is in federal custody, admitted in his plea agreement that he handed out the painkiller prescriptions to the officers "without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice."
On nine occasions between July and November 2012, Kuthuru gave the officers prescriptions with little or no examination, according to the plea agreement.
Eight other felony counts against him will be dismissed at his Dec. 21 sentencing before Dorsey.
"We will continue to identify and prosecute bad doctors who are using their medical licenses to illegally deal drugs," Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said after the courtroom plea. "Over-prescribing and falsely prescribing with no medical need leads to more abuse and more overdose deaths."
The plea agreement, worked out between Assistant U.S. Attorney Crane Pomerantz and defense lawyer Chris Rasmussen, calls for prison time for Kuthuru to run concurrently to a sentence in another criminal case against him in New York.
In May, the Indian-born Kuthuru was given an 18-month prison term for health care fraud and unlawful distribution of prescription drugs out of his clinics there.
He is serving the time at a federal prison camp near Bakersfield, Calif.
Kuthuru is one of several doctors charged in an ongoing federal crackdown in Las Vegas of prescription drug abuse. More doctors are under investigation.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.
