Kenneth Lowther, a nurse practitioner in eastern Idaho, consented to judgment against him after admitting that he unlawfully prescribed narcotics on more than 15 occasions. The judgment, entered by the United States District Court for the District of Idaho, found Lowther civilly liable for violating the Controlled Substances Act and required that he pay a $30,000 fine. According to the government’s Complaint, Lowther wrote prescriptions for hydrocodone in the name of one patient, but thereafter gave the prescriptions to a third-party for filling and use. The government alleged, and the Court and Lowther ultimately agreed, that the unlawful prescriptions lacked a legitimate medical purpose and were written outside the usual course of professional practice in violation of federal and state law.
