A McCracken County, Ky physician has plead guilty in federal court to a number of drug and fraud charges related to health care matters.
According to United States Attorney John Kuhn, Jr., Sean P. McDonald,46, admitted before Senior District Judge Thomas Russell to devising a scheme for obtaining prescription pain medication while working as a physician at Western Baptist and Lourdes hospitals in Paducah.
Kuhn says McDonald lied about removing meds for hospitalized patients, keeping the controlled substances and while requesting payment be sent from the two hospitals to insurance carriers of the patients.
McDonald is also found in violation of his Drug Enforcement Administration registration to issue the painkiller Dilauded, a Schedule II controlled substance, which never made it to the patients as prescribed.
If convicted at trial, the charges could have sent McDonald to prison for a maximum cumulative sentence of 113 years, incurred a combined maximum fine of $3,000,000 and a 3-year term of supervised release.
His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26 in Paducah.
