Collinsville doctor sentenced to federal prison for writing illegal prescriptions

A federal judge in U.S. District Court for Eastern Missouri on Wednesday sentenced a Collinsville osteopathic physician to a year in prison for illegally prescribing an anti-anxiety drug.

Matthew Steven Miller, 43, prescribed Xanax for six people who were not his patients between 2016 and 2018, according to the criminal complaint.

“Miller had not examined them, knew they didn’t have a legitimate medical need for the drug and knew the drug would be sold or abused,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy McMurtry wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Miller also failed to document the prescriptions, and he did not determine if the Xanax could be dangerous if used in combination with other medications or medical conditions, the complaint alleged.

Miller wrote the prescriptions despite not being licensed by Missouri’s Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and lacked a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number necessary to do so, the court determined.

He pleaded guilty in June to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of making a false statement concerning a health care matter.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of the U.S. Inspector General and the South Central Drug Task Force.

This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 6:17 PM.