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Six US doctors are charged in $464m opioid and fake treatment scheme

BMJ 2018; 363 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k5259 (Published 12 December 2018) Cite this as: BMJ 2018;363:k5259
  1. Owen Dyer
  1. Montreal

A group of Michigan doctors prescribed opioids to addicts who in return submitted to painful back injections and other unnecessary treatments so that the doctors could bill the US government for over $450m (£359m; €397m), charges in federal court have asserted.

The alleged mastermind of the scheme was Rajendra Bothra, 77, who amassed $35m and bought his own private island, US prosecutors said. Bothra’s arrest brought news coverage in his native India, where in 1999 he was awarded one of the country’s highest civil honours, the Padma Shri.

Bail hearing

His wealth was the subject of a bail hearing on 7 December, shortly after his arrest. He sat on a courtroom bench with five other charged doctors, all of whom were his employees. The doctors, described by the Detroit News as “rumpled” and …

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