An 81-year-old Manhattan doctor was arrested Monday on charges that he wrote thousands of illegal prescriptions for opioids such as oxycodone “without a legitimate medical purpose,” federal prosecutors said.
Dr. Martin Tesher wrote more than 14,000 prescriptions for oxycodone — more than 2.2 million pills — between June 2012 and January 2017, “a disproportionately high amount for a family practitioner,” the Eastern District U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.
Prosecutors said the doctor does not have specialized training in pain management.
“In some cases, Tesher indicated that he knew that certain of his patients were addicted to oxycodone, or that they were using other illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine, but continued prescribing oxycodone and other opioids to those patients anyway,” prosecutors said in the news release. “In one case, on a patient’s first visit, Tesher prescribed the patient 15 oxycodone pills a day without even basic verification that the patient had any injury.”
A criminal complaint was unsealed Monday in Brooklyn federal court, where Tesher was scheduled to appear Monday afternoon.
The Nassau and Suffolk police departments, the NYPD, and State Police were among the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, authorities said.
“As alleged, Dr. Tesher used his position as a doctor not to heal but to foster opioid addiction,” stated acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Rohde.
