DETROIT – St. Clair Shores Dr. Bernard Shelton, 67, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after being convicted at trial of a patient’s overdose death that resulted from his unlawful prescribing.
Shelton was also convicted on 21 charges related to the unlawful distribution of Schedule II, III, and IV prescription drug-controlled substances.
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The 67-year-old was sentenced in Detroit, and he has not been allowed to prescribe controlled substances since 2017.
Court documents revealed that Shelton ran a pill mill as he prescribed over 5.5 million doses of controlled substances between April 2013 and December 2016.
Shelton prescribed over 2.7 million doses of Schedule II controlled substances such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, usually prescribing the types and strengths of drugs most valuable on the street market.
Court documents said when an undercover patient made an initial visit to Shelton complaining of back stiffness, Shelton did not examine the patient’s back but instead asked, “What can I give you today?” before prescribing the requested narcotics.
A jury found that Shelton issued 21 prescriptions to seven different patients outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose so that he could charge for office visits and tests.
During the same time period, Shelton received over $1.4 million from Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan.
Shelton began prescribing opioid pain relievers in 2010 to a patient whose pain was previously treated by prescription strength Motrin.
Shelton prescribed increasingly stronger controlled substances over the next six years, and the patient became addicted to the drugs.
In January 2016, court documents prescribed an increased dosage of oxycodone to the 54-year-old patient without medical justification.
The patient suffered an overdose two days later and survived.
A second oxycodone overdose four days later was fatal. Shelton also contributed to the overdose deaths of two other patients.