News Archive

Email A Friend

More News

April 22, 2024
California Division of Workers’ Compensation Posts Updated Time of Hire Notice

April 22, 2024
Sullivan on Comp Launches ChatSOC. It's an Innovative Chatbot for California Workers' Compensation Professionals Integrated with an Authoritative Legal Treatise

April 19, 2024
Workers Compensation Bill 2024: One percent of employee’s salary to contribute to workers’ compensation fund in Kenya.

April 15, 2024
Colorado Worker Shows Head Injury Happened as a Consequence of a Knock on the Head at Work

The probation hearing for Lisa Michele Barden, a former workers’ compensation doctor, accused of prescription fraud has been postponed to July 10. The public defender representing Ms. Barden told a Superior Court judge in Riverside on Monday, June 4, that having just received the case he was not prepared to proceed.

Barden, 42, was arrested May 19 after she picked up a prescription at Main Street Pharmacy in Corona, CA. Police said she phoned in the prescription using another doctor’s name and then claimed to be a relative of the patient when she paid for and attempted to pick up the pills. But as she breathed a sigh of relief, a police officer was there to make the arrest.

Barden was charged with identity theft and five enhancements to that charge were added: falsifying or forging a prescription, falsely representing a prescriber by phone or electronic communication, passing a bad check, forging an identification card, and being previously convicted of two felonies. She pled not guilty to all charges, bail was set at $110,000, but she remains in custody at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

On Jan. 27, 2011, Barden was sentenced to less than a year in jail and five years probation after being convicted of 275 felonies related to prescription fraud. Her sentence of seven years, eight months was suspended. Barden was convicted of dozens of counts each for identity theft, burglary, falsifying or forging a prescription, and possession of a controlled substance.

Any way one looks at it, Ms. Barden is facing serious time in the joint for her latest escapade. Stealing the prescription pad is simple theft and under normal circumstances would be classified as a misdemeanor had there been no prior convictions. When she wrote the prescription on the sheet, it became forgery... a felony. Attempting to pass the forged instrument became another felony. Had she been successful in obtaining the medications via fraud it would have become theft and possession of a controlled substance. From there it could have easily escalated and she could have faced a trafficking charge, (if the evidence had led to a drugs-for-profit scheme).  No bones about it this is a drug crime and in the continuing U.S. War on Drugs drug crimes typically are dealt with a heavy hand and involve steep fines and a stiff jail sentence. One could say Ms. Barden got lucky the first time as she received a considerably light sentence.  This go around the judge is likely to be less sympathetic, since she has broken probation, and this may net her YEARS in jail time.

In the United States today, people commit prescription fraud in numerous ways. The two most common occurrences are altering existing prescriptions and forging prescriptions slips. This has become easier as access to high-quality copying equipment can be had, police free, at places like Office Max, Staples or the like for pennies. Also, computers have enabled users to create nonexistent doctors or to copy legitimate doctors’ prescriptions. The first resort of many users of legally prescribed drugs - who become addicted -  is to alter a legitimate prescription to change the type of drug, increase the number of refills, increase the quantity, or add drugs (see examples below).

Prescription altered to change the type of drug from Tylenol II to Tylenol IV

Prescription altered to change the number of refills from one to four

 
Prescription altered to change the quantity from 12 to 120

Prescription altered to add a drug (Alprazolam)

Authorities say pain and anxiety pills top the list for the most commonly sought drugs.

Luckily, it's fairly easy for a pharmacist to differentiate between a fake and the real thing. The voices don't match the familiar voices the pharmacists hear continually every day. Quantities and other required information aren't mentioned and doctors' offices are asking for medications that they never prescribe.

One key thing to point out is that unlike other drugs (cocaine, marijuana or heroin), prescription drug abuse is not one that stays within racial or social boundaries.  High profile cases include the daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Noelle Bush, who was arrested in 2002 on charges of trying to fill a fake prescription for the popular tranquilizer Xanax. More recently, in 2009, Rush Limbaugh, the conservative commentator, reached a deal with the prosecution in his long-running "doctor shopping," or illegally deceiving multiple doctors to receive overlapping prescriptions, after learning that he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, fraud case wherein the only charge against him was dropped without a guilty plea in exchange for treatment. Limbaugh came to acknowledge being addicted to pain medication but had years earlier decried drug use and abuse prior to his arrest. He often made the case that drug crimes deserve punishment.

"Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Some say the real culprit in addiction cases is the medical community that profits by keeping a person sick enough to treat him, not cure him. Take a look at many of the common medications (and these are drugs that moms, dads, and even kid brothers and sisters use) and you'll see it is almost impossible to stop from taking them after your body has become reliant on them. Because of this, prescription fraud cases may be best addressed by education and detoxification treatment than YEARS behind bars.

Jorge Alexandría is a U.S. Army veteran who received his B.A. in Political Science from Cal State Los Angeles, and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a Master’s in Public Administration.  He holds both a California Workers Compensation Claims Professional (WCCP) designation and the State of California’s Self-Insured Administrator’s License. With more than 20 years industry experience, including various leadership positions, he is a leading expert in the field of risk management. He currently practices federal workers’ compensation of maritime interest. He can be reached at Riskletter@mail.com. The views and knowledge expressed in this article are Jorge Alexandría’s alone.