Doctors convicted of operating Ann Arbor 'pill mill'

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Two doctors face sentencing of up to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of helping to operate what federal prosecutors say was a Washtenaw County “pill mill.”

Federal officials say Dr. Anthony Conrardy, 61, and Dr. William McCutchen, III, 46, wrote medically unnecessary prescriptions to hundreds of individuals, charging $250 for a 30-day supply of narcotics.

The pair of doctors worked at the Meghnot Comprehensive Center for Hope on Golfside Road in Pittsfield Township where physicians regularly wrote prescriptions for Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Vicodin and other narcotics “to drug-seeking individuals purporting to be patients,” according to Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel L. Lemisch.


The clinic, owned by 86-year-old Lillian Meghnot, generated roughly $4.5 million through illegal drug prescriptions between September 2011 and March 2015, when it was raided by federal agents, Lemisch said in a press release today. He said the business, located between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, operated as a pain management clinic, but in reality was a pill mill.

Meghnot pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy, healthcare fraud and money laundering, Lemisch said. A fourth suspect, Dr. Shardchandra Patel, 72, pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

A rather large problem in America today.