Georgia Psychiatrist Charged With ‘Overprescribing’ Medications Resulting In 36 Deaths, ‘Doctor Death’ Ran Pill Mill
A Georgia psychiatrist, Narenda Nagareddy, has been arrested for allegedly running a “pill mill” and overprescribing medications to his patients. The psychiatrist is believed to have overprescribed medications resulting in the death of 36 of his patients. The local police chief is calling the man “Doctor Death,” saying that it appears the doctor was operating a “pill mill.” Patients of the disgraced doctor say that if you wanted pills, Nagareddy was “your guy.”
The Daily Mail reports that Georgia-based psychiatrist Narenda Nagareddy was known for prescribing large quantities of medications to his patients for no real purpose. Current and past patients have admitted to authorities that Dr. Nagareddy would prescribe controlled medications without “having a legitimate medical need.”
According to Fox Carolina, Dr. Nagareddy was arrested on suspicion of violating Georgia’s Controlled Substance Act. The doctor was allegedly prescribing controlled substances to patients without thoroughly evaluating their need for the medications. A search warrant was issued on the doctor’s office which indicates that 36 of the psychiatrist’s patients have died. The warrant indicates that 12 of the deceased had autopsies performed which ruled prescription drug overdose as the cause of death. The raid on the office was performed by DEA agents.
The allegations against the doctor were brought to light by the death of a mother-of-two who sought treatment with the doctor the day before her overdose. Audrey Austin, the mother of two little boys, was a recovering drug addict who sought treatment from Dr. Nagareddy. Her mother, Ruth Carr, says that her daughter had recently left rehab, but the psychiatrist made it “easy” for her daughter to get drugs by fronting as a “treatment” option. Carr says that the doctor knew what he was doing when he prescribed deadly medications to recovering addicts.
“She was an addict and he made it very easy for her. I knew that he was doing this with people other than my daughter. I knew that she wasn’t the only one.”
Carr says that Dr. Nagareddy’s arrest has been a long time coming and she is happy to see that justice is finally being served for her deceased daughter. The mother says she filed a complaint with the medical board in 2012 following her daughter’s death but that complaints against the doctor date back to 2010 when one reviewer on RateMDs called the man a “drug pusher.”
“This dr [sic] is nothing but a drug pusher. instead of helping my disorder, he kept me wasted on 7 different drugs.”
Other review websites carry along the same theme, if you want drugs, go to Dr. Nagareddy. A recent review posted just two days before his arrest, notes that a patient paid $75 for the doctor to simply fill out a prescription.
“$75 for basically the 60 seconds it takes to fill out the prescription. You will give, what feels like, half of your life waiting on him. It’s by no means a personal, ‘open up and tell me what’s going on’ type of relationship. It’s a ‘hurry pay me’ on his end, & a ‘hurry write the Rxs so I can leave’ on my end!”
Another reviewer called him a “quack” who was nothing more than a “legal drug pusher.”
“This guy is nothing but a legal drug pusher. I do not recommend him to anyone. He has the tendency to prescribe the older psychotropic drugs which require weekly blood test. How convenient for his office to have a medical examination room equipped with blood drawing techs. He seems to believe that prescribing MULTIPLE sedatives, several times per day is the answer for anxiety. He will trash you with DRUGS. It would be in your best interest to stay away from this QUACK.”
#Georgia doctor arrested after 36 patients die, at least 12 from overdose on prescribed meds https://t.co/1mYyDlDwBG pic.twitter.com/bMP2ZpCZ9j
— The_News_DIVA (@The_News_DIVA) January 16, 2016
Though authorities believe that there is enough evidence to arrest Dr. Nagareddy, others in the community are standing firm in support for the psychologist, noting that he has never had any other negative reports before the Carr case to the medical board.
“The State Board of Medical Examiners said Nagareddy has never been disciplined and has no criminal convictions, medical malpractice suits or medical settlements.”
The case is still being investigated, but Clayton County Police Chief Mike Register says if the allegations against the doctor are true he is a real-life “Doctor Death.” What do you think about the case against Dr. Narenda Nagareddy?
[Image via Shutterstock/tab62]
