Mandeville doctor pleads guilty to drug charges

By Erik Sanzenbach
St. Tammany News
Published on Friday, January 22, 2010 11:21 AM CST

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that Mandeville doctor Paul E. Nathan, M.D., 48, pled guilty to a 10-council indictment accusing him of obtaining controlled dangerous substances by misrepresentation, deception or subterfuge.

According to court documents, Nathan had lost his privilege to write prescriptions in August 2008, and voluntarily turned over his prescription registration number to the Drug Enforcement Administration. However, Nathan kept writing prescriptions for pain killers, Oxycontin, Hydrocodone and sleeping aid Ambien using an invalid prescription registration number.

He wrote 10 prescriptions for the controlled substances between February and April of 2009. Nathan wrote seven illegal prescriptions for Oxycontin, two for Ambien and one for Hydrocodone. Nathan either used his name or the name of a family member on the fake prescriptions. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said Hydrocodone and Oxycontin are a common combination of drugs used by prescription drug abusers.

Nathan could face up to four years in jail and a $250,000 fine for each count, which could mean 40 years in jail and a fine of $2.5 million. Sentencing for Nathan is April 28 in the court of U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr.

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