A Tennessee nurse practitioner could face decades in prison after being arrested for illegally prescribing opioids at the Convenient Care Clinic in West Tennessee, which she owned and operated.
Kelly McCallum, a Dyersburg resident, allegedly dished out millions of opioid pills to patients of the clinic, even those with whom she shared a personal connection with.
The list of controlled substances that the medical professional allegedly gave out includes oxycodone and hydrocodone.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, she is charged with maintaining a drug-involved premises, unlawful distribution of controlled substances, and health care fraud.
McCallum allegedly signed prescriptions and allowed her staff to award the medication to patients when she was not there:
Over approximately four years, McCallum prescribed more than two million opioid pills and more than 900,000 pills containing benzodiazepines. McCallum is alleged to have provided prescriptions to individuals with whom she had close personal relationships, including individuals with whom she had sexual relationships. She is also alleged to have prescribed dangerous combinations of controlled substances to her patients and, when she was out of the office, left pre-signed prescriptions for staff to distribute controlled substances in her absence. McCallum also faces health care fraud charges for allegedly billing TennCare and Medicare for fraudulent office visits on days that she was away from the Clinic.
If convicted, McCallum would face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the drug-related charges. Additionally, she could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud.
The current opioid epidemic has been especially brutal to residents of the state. According to data from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, at least three people die from an opioid-related overdose every day in the state.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Any chance that murder charges could be brought if any of the people given these drugs illegally overdosed and died? That would seem just.