Dr. Stearns accused of prescribing opioids sans legit purpose

A former Marianas Medical Center physician is facing over 100 charges of allegedly failing to issue prescriptions for controlled substances, specifically opioids, for a legitimate medical purpose and acting outside the usual course of his professional practice.

According to a complaint filed by assistant U.S attorneys Jessica Wessling and Mikel Schwab with the U.S. District Court for the NMI, Dr. Anthony Stearns, a former MMC & Pacific Labs, LLC family medicine physician, allegedly violated the Controlled Substances Act by issuing opioid painkiller prescriptions without legitimate medical purpose, essentially contributing to opioid abuse in the CNMI.

According to the complaint, the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration reviewed some of Stearns’ patient files from 2015 to 2020 and investigated his prescribing activities for controlled substances from October 2016 to January 2020, also known as the “dispensing violations period.” In this investigation, five particular patient files stood out.

During the dispensing violations period, Stearns allegedly violated the Controlled Substances Act under the United States Code because he knowingly issued approximately 357 prescriptions for controlled substances to patients A, B, and C that were either not issued in the usual course of professional treatment, nor for a legitimate medical purpose, or both.

Stearns was also allegedly in violation when he prescribed approximately 62 prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances for maintenance or detoxification purposes and providing maintenance or detoxification services without the appropriate training or DEA exemption for Patients D and E.

The lawyers are asking the court to order Stearns to pay civil penalties in the amount $67,627 for each violation.

For patient A, the lawyers allege 31 counts of failing to issue prescriptions for controlled substances for a legitimate medical purpose and acting outside the usual course of his professional practice.

“Dr. Stearns issued prescriptions for controlled substances to patient A without establishing a proper doctor-patient relationship, without personally confirming the patient’s diagnosis, without proper face-to-face medical examinations, without justification for controlled substances being prescribed and ignoring the patient’s addiction,” the lawyers said.

For Patient B, Stearns is facing 125 counts of allegedly failing to issue prescriptions for controlled substances for a legitimate medical purpose and acting outside the usual course of his professional practice, they alleged.

“Dr. Stearns issued prescriptions over a prolonged period for high doses of controlled substances without establishing a proper doctor-patient relationship; without personally confirming his diagnosis; and without properly monitoring of the patient to medically justify prescribing and refilling the specific individual and combination of controlled medications,” the complaint said.

Meanwhile, for patient C, Stearns faces 201 counts for allegedly failing to issue prescriptions for controlled substances for a legitimate medical purpose and acting outside the usual course of his professional practice.

“Stearns allegedly prescribed extremely excessive doses of opioids, often in dangerous combinations with benzodiazepines, and the evaluation and monitoring of this patient was insufficient to medically justify prescribing and refilling these controlled substances,” the lawyers state.

The DEA also found five counts for failure to abide by the requirement that all prescriptions for controlled substances must be dated as of, and signed on, the day when issued. He allegedly post-dated five prescriptions to patient C.

And lastly, for patients D and E, the lawyers allege 62 counts of failure to have a “qualifying physician” issue prescriptions for a schedule III, IV, or V narcotic drug approved by the FDA specifically for use in maintenance or detoxification treatment.

“Stearns prescribed Schedule II controlled substances to treat the patients’ opioid use disorder, and did not complete the required training or obtain the appropriate DEA exemptions to prescribe controlled drugs for use in maintenance or detoxification treatment,” the complaint said.