An eastern Missouri doctor has pleaded guilty in federal court for prescribing fentanyl and other opioids to women with whom he had personal relationships who had no medical need for the drugs.
The doctor, 62-year-old Philip Dean of Warrenton, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of illegally distributing opiate medications and making a false statement to the Medicare program. Sentencing is Nov. 20.
One of the women lost her nursing license due to prescription drug abuse and was involved in several accidents and traffic stops while under the influence of prescriptions before Dean began treating her. Still, federal prosecutors say he prescribed her with a fentanyl spray for use by cancer patients, even though she did not have cancer.
