DETROIT – A West Bloomfield doctor on Monday pleaded guilty to illegally distributing prescription drugs to patients without proper examination.
According to a news release from the United States Department of Justice, 61-year-old Scott Henry Cooper pleaded guilty on Monday, April 17, before United States District Judge Denise Page Hood. Cooper admitted to illegally distributing more than 7,000 oxycodone pills while working as a physician.
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Oxycodone is a Schedule II controlled substance.
The 61-year-old practiced as a primary care physician at Comprehensive Medical Associates, located in West Bloomfield, according to court records. Cooper practiced at that clinic from 2013-2018.
The news release from the U.S. Department of Justice states that a portion of his practice involved patients who sought highly abused and valuable prescription drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, alprazolam (Xanax) and dextroamphetamine-amphetamine (Adderall).
Cooper was required by his employer to see Medicaid patients. He admitted that his controlled substance patients were problem patients and that he did not want to see them.
The Department of Justice says Cooper often did not see them, but continued to prescribe controlled substances.
The department cites an instance of one such patient who was serving time in prison from January 2015 to December 2017. According to officials, Cooper wrote monthly prescriptions for nearly three years for the patient without examination or determination of medical necessity. The prescribed medications were picked up by a relative while the patient was in prison.
The department says the drugs prescribed to the patient in prison totaled over 7,000 doses.
There was another case of a prescription written in October 2017 without an examination or determination of medical necessity. In this case, the prescription was for 120 doses of 15 mg oxycodone.
According to the release, the judge must now impose a sentence of at least 44 months in prison, under the terms of the guilty plea agreement. The sentence could, however, go up to 87 months.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Aug. 24. Cooper has not been able to prescribe any medications since June 2020 due to bond conditions set by the court.