- Dr. Morris Brown
- Practice: Dayton Primary and Urgent Care, Ohio
- Specialty: Family practice
- Opioid prescriptions paid by Medicare 2013-2015: 17,197
- Costs to Medicare: $1,472,685
- Discipline: Investigated by the Ohio medical board
- Status of medical license: Surrendered
(RNN) - Over a 3-year span, Dr. Morris Brown was the top family practice doctor in Ohio writing opioid prescriptions to his elderly and disabled patients.
On Facebook and online reviews his patients referred to him as caring and compassionate even as they complained about sitting in his crowded waiting room for an hour or more waiting for their appointments.
On average, Brown saw 560 Medicare patients a year and wrote 5,700 opioid prescriptions that were billed to the Part D drug benefit program between 2013-2015. No other general practice physician in Ohio wrote as many opioid prescriptions as Brown.
Last year, his practice caught the attention of Ohio’s State Medical Board and a federal opioid task force.
In May, the medical board accused him of practicing below minimal standards of care and prescribing drugs without using sound scientific methods.
The board reviewed records if 16 patients that Brown treated between 2011 and 2015. Investigators accused him of prescribing opioids without knowing medical histories or having a sound rationale for dispensing such powerful pills.
The board also concluded Morris prescribed excessive and dangerous combinations of drugs that included opioids and muscle relaxers.
The investigation said he gave opioids to a patient who complained about headaches. Nine patients showed obvious signs they had become addicted.
In November, a federal opioid task force searched his office. No charges have been filed as a result.
Morris was scheduled to appear before the medical board in January. He failed to show.
Sources: Medicare Part D data and Ohio medical board records.
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