In yet another headline that makes you shake your head and mutter, “Of course it happened here,” a Lubbock heart doctor has agreed to pay $1.2 million to make federal prosecutors go away after being caught writing bogus prescriptions for some of the most addictive drugs on the market .
Dr. Juan Kurdi, an interventional cardiologist who co-owned a local medical practice, admitted to doling out Oxycodone, Alprazolam, Tramadol, Dextroamphetamine, Vyvanse, and other heavy hitters – not to patients in need, but to family and friends, often for his own stash. He even went so far as to create fake medical records to make it all look legit.
The DEA says Kurdi skipped little things like physical exams, proper documentation, and, you know, having a legitimate medical reason before scribbling prescriptions. Sometimes the “patients” lived hundreds or thousands of miles away, but the drugs were conveniently picked up by Kurdi himself at Lubbock-area pharmacies.
Federal prosecutors called it a betrayal of public trust. The DEA called it part of the “poisoning crisis” plaguing communities. Kurdi called it quits on his DEA registration and cut a big check instead of facing a courtroom battle.
The settlement doesn’t mean he admitted to everything the government alleged, but he did cop to using certain scripts written in other people’s names to score drugs for himself.
And so, the saga ends: a respected doctor turned pill mill operator, another cautionary tale in a city that never seems to run out of them.
Welcome to Lubbock. Where even your cardiologist might have a prescription pad for personal use.
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/latest/dr-kurdi-csa-opioid-settlement/
https://www.tmb.state.tx.us/dl/67C4E7D1-73EB-E28B-F2B7-E80426AB78E3
