XPost: alabama.general, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   Former Huntsville physician Shelinder Aggarwal, who was previously   
   described as a “pill mill doctor” by federal investigators, was one of the   
   1,499 people to have their sentence reduced last week in the largest   
   single-day act of clemency in modern history carried out by President Joe   
   Biden.   
      
   In 2017, Aggarwal was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for   
   illegally prescribing controlled substances and conducting health care   
   fraud involving $9.5 million in unneeded and unused urine tests, as AL.com   
   previously reported.   
      
   “This defendant directly contributed to the opioid epidemic that is   
   plaguing our nation,” said 2017 FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C.   
   Stanton.   
      
   “He also cost taxpayers millions of dollars by fraudulently claiming   
   government reimbursement for thousands of lab tests that he never used to   
   treat patients. I applaud the work of my agents and our partners to shut   
   down Aggarwal’s pill mill and hold him accountable for his actions.”   
      
   Aggarwal was a pain management doctor who operated Chronic Pain Care   
   Services on Turner Street Southwest.   
      
   In 2012, about 80 to 145 patients a day visited Aggarwal’s clinic,   
   according to previous investigations.   
      
   Initial patient visits typically lasted five minutes or less, and follow-   
   ups two minutes or less.   
      
   Aggarwal did not obtain prior medical records for his patients, did not   
   treat patients with anything other than controlled substances, often asked   
   patients what medications they wanted and filled their requests,   
   prescribed controlled substances to patients who he knew were using   
   illegal drugs, and did not take appropriate measures to ensure that   
   patients did not divert or abuse controlled substances.   
      
   Aggarwal’s 2017 plea agreement summarized an interaction with a patient,   
   which was captured on video.   
      
   In it, Aggarwal notes that the DEA viewed him as the “biggest pill-pusher   
   in North Alabama” and that many of his patients were “dropping like flies;   
   they are all dying.”   
      
   Between January 2011 and March 2013, urine drug tests accounted for about   
   80 percent of paid claims Aggarwal submitted to Medicare and Blue Cross,   
   for a total reimbursement of $9.5 million.   
      
   According to his plea agreement, “Aggarwal’s primary motivation for   
   testing patients’ urine specimens, and submitting those claims for   
   payment, was financial gain.”   
      
   In 2012, Alabama pharmacies filled about 110,013 of Aggarwal’s   
   prescriptions for controlled substances, according to the Prescription   
   Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) for Alabama,   
      
   That would equal about 423 prescriptions per day, if he worked five days a   
   week, and resulted in about 12.3 million pills.   
      
   The PDMP rated Aggarwal as the highest prescriber of controlled substances   
   filled in Alabama in 2012, with the next highest prescriber writing a   
   third as many prescriptions.   
      
   “Dr. Aggarwal used his medical license to generate tremendous profits by   
   putting hundreds of thousands of pills on the street illegally,” said   
   former Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Robert   
   Posey.   
      
   Aggarwal surrendered his Alabama medical license in 2013, along with his   
   Alabama and federal Drug Enforcement Administration certificates to   
   prescribe controlled substances, after the Alabama Board of Medical   
   Examiners initiated an investigation.   
      
   Records reviewed by FOX54, which confirmed that the Aggarwal listed on the   
   clemency list was former doctor, show he is at a halfway house in   
   Montgomery and is set to be released on Dec. 22.   
      
   Representatives for the Department of Justice did not respond to requests   
   for verification from AL.com.   
      
   https://www.al.com/news/2024/12/biden-grants-clemency-to-former-doctor-   
   called-the-biggest-pill-pusher-in-north-alabama.html   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)