Former Columbia doctor charged in nation’s largest opioid takedown – News – The Daily Herald

A former Columbia doctor has been indicted on federal charges in a national crackdown, which included 60 medical professionals from seven states in what in what is considered to be the single-largest prescription opioid law enforcement operation in U.S. history.

Dr. Darrel Rinehart, who was previously affiliated with Maury Regional Medical Group until 2016, has been charged with 19 counts of prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose after at least four of his patients died from drug overdoses, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

Rinehart, who lives and practices in Indiana, is one of 32 Tennessee doctors and medical professionals charged with crimes related to over-prescribing opioids in the national crackdown on individuals who prescribed addictive medications without justification.

After Rinehart was caught on undercover video, increasing a patient’s opioid prescription without any examination by a member by the Maury County Sheriff’s Department, the Columbia doctor’s medical license was suspended by the Tennessee Board of Medical of Examiners.

Local district attorney Brent Cooper said the indictment sends a strong message.

“We are glad to be able to contribute to the national investigation,” Cooper said. “To have a doctor here, it shows how pervasive the opioid problem really is.”

Because federal charges carry more time, Cooper said his office will not prosecute Rinehart, including a reckless homicide change the district attorney’s office was investigating.

A local drug task force sent in an informant and acquired various painkillers from Rinehart, who did not conduct any sort of examination of the undercover agent, the district attorney told The Daily Herald.

“He (the agent) essentially purchased drugs from Dr. Rinehart,” Cooper said. “He told the doctor what drugs he wanted and he got the prescriptions. There were other incidents when he was increasing the dosage for no apparent reason and other actions that were really outside the standard of care.”

Maury Regional Medical Group said it employed Dr. Rinehart, as well as the other physicians of CORE Physicians, an independent Columbia medical practice, starting September 1, 2015.

Rinehart’s employment was then terminated approximately 15 months later on November 22, 2016, a spokesperson from the medical center said.

Although the federal charge connect the former Columbia doctor to four fatal overdoses, an investigation carried out by The Tennessean and The Indianapolis Star indicate at least five of Rinehart’s patients died due to drugs he prescribed between March 2015 and January 2016. Another six patients suffered nonfatal overdoses between 2014 and 2016, according to the investigation.

“We trust our doctors to have the knowledge to make decisions for us,” Cooper said.

With a total of 32 medical professionals charged from the Volunteer State, more than half of the 60 defendants in the national operation are from Tennessee.

“This should not strike fear in the hearts its of doctors out there,” Coopers continued. “”The things that Dr. Rinehart had done were so far out of the standard of care.”

A total of nine people are facing charges from Middle Tennessee following the national operation.

Jeff Young, a nurse practitioner from Jackson, is accused of trading fentanyl patches for sex.

Dr. Timothy Abbott, a South Nashville Podiatrist. Abbott is charged with seven counts of prescribing a controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose.

Abbot’s office is now closed and a notice about the take-down informing patients, was attached to his door, according to The Daily Herald news partner WSMV-TV.

Medical professionals in Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama and Pennsylvania were all charged in the massive takedown. Across all states, the suspects included 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners and seven other licensed medical professionals, according to a Department of Justice news release.

“The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region,” said U.S. Attorney General William Barr in a press the release announcing the operation. “But the Department of Justice is doing its part to help end this crisis.”

Data from the Tennessee Department of Heath indicates nearly three fourths of drug overdose deaths in Tennessee in 2017 were associated with opioids. There were 1,268 overdose deaths associated with all opioids and of those, 644 were associated with prescription opioids for pain, which include drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and codeine. Those drugs associated with more overdose deaths than any other group of drugs for the year.

In 2014, a total of 1,263 died from drug-related overdoses in the state. In 2015, that number increased to 1,451 and again in 2016 to 1,631, with an estimated 432,000 people in need of recovery resources. Drug overdoses are also the number one cause of death of people under age 55.