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. He was also convicted on twenty-one charges related to the unlawful distribution of Schedule II, III and IV prescription drug-controlled substances. He has not been allowed to prescribe controlled substances since 2017. The evidence presented at trial established that Shelton ran a pill mill. 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. 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. The jury found that Shelton issued twenty-one prescriptions to seven different patients outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose so he could charge for office visits and tests. Shelton received over $1.4 million from Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan during the same time period.
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, he 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.
