A doctor at a Munster medical practice was indicted for allegedly over-prescribing hydrocodone, according to court documents.

Dr. Jay Joshi, who practiced at Prestige Clinic in Munster, was indicted on four counts of selling, distributing or dispensing hydrocodone, according to court documents unsealed in federal court Monday. The indictments cited four incidents where an unnamed individual reportedly received prescriptions for 60 tablets of hydrocodone during four consecutive monthly visits, according to court documents.

“During the time period alleged in this indictment, Joshi dispensed controlled substances that were not prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose and outside the scope of professional practice,” the indictment said.

Attorney Paul Stracci, who is representing the doctor, said Joshi appeared in federal court Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Stracci said a jury trial is tentatively scheduled for April 2018.

Federal investigators found that since April 2017, Joshi allegedly issued more than 6,000 prescriptions for controlled substances, according to court documents. Documents showed Joshi ranked first in Lake County and ninth in Indiana for the number of prescriptions written for controlled substances, according to the indictment.

The unsealed indictment laid out a series of appointments where “Individual A” allegedly got prescriptions from Joshi.

On July 18, “Individual A” reportedly asked Joshi for Vicodin, according to court documents, and was given a prescription for 60 tablets of hydrocodone after a “cursory medical examination.”

On Aug. 14, “Individual A” again obtained a prescription for 60 tablets of hydrocodone.

One Sept. 13, “Individual A” obtained a prescription for 66 tablets of hydrocodone.

On Nov. 13, “Individual A” obtained a prescription for 60 tablets of hydrocodone.

The indictment also alleged that in May 2017 staff at Prestige Clinic dispensed prescriptions for controlled substances to patients while Joshi was in Greece, according to court documents.

clyons@post-trib.com

Twitter @craigalyons

And just where did Federal Investigators get the number of prescriptions that this doctor wrote..  Was “Individual A” a confidential informant that was “planted” to visit the physician or was it a undercover member of law enforcement?  Isn’t that what they call ENTRAPMENT ?

The whole issue is around “Individual A” getting TWO DOSES of HYDROCODONE A DAY … for FOUR MONTHS IN A ROW ?… and that was determined to be: were not prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose and outside the scope of professional practice

Or did they use this “Individual A”‘s interaction with the prescriber to get a probable cause warrant to go on a fishing expedition thru the surrounding states’ PMP databases? Or had they already went on a “fishing expedition” thru those PMP databases before any real probable cause was known ?

In the middle of the article it switches from the prescriber writing for 60 +/- doses of hydrocodone… doesn’t specify strength, if it was Hydrocodone and APAP or something like Zohydro (long acting Hydrocodone).. then they start talking about 6,000 prescriptions for controlled substances.

All opiates/narcotics are controlled substances… not all controlled substances are opiates/narcotics.