Ex-Ohio doctor who pushed pain pills gets year in prison

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A former doctor who pleaded guilty to distributing pain medication without a legitimate medical purpose was sentenced Thursday to one year and one day in prison.

Federal investigators allege Terry Dragash worked from 2001 through 2011 at a Columbus medical clinic where he and other doctors were required to see 50 to 100 patients a day.

Many patients treated at Columbus Southern Medical Clinic were drug addicts traveling long distances just to get pain pills to feed their addictions, according to court documents.

Dragash “ignored obvious signs that patients were drug seekers and continued to prescribe prescription pain medications placing the physical welfare of these patients at risk,” assistant U.S. attorney Kenneth Affeldt said in a court filing last month.

Prosecutors had asked for a two year-sentence. Instead, federal judge Gregory Frost handed down the one-year sentence along with two years of supervision after release. The judge also ordered Dragash, 59, to undergo drug abuse treatment in prison, which Dragash’s attorney had requested.

Dragash had a history of alcohol and cocaine abuse, Affeldt said.