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MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Indiana's attorney general's office has asked the state medical board to suspend the license of a doctor whose Muncie clinic was searched amid allegations that he was over-prescribing certain pain medications.
Police officers and federal agents searched for patient files and prescription records at the Centers for Pain Relief's Muncie clinic on Monday. It is among a dozen that the Fort Wayne-based company operates in northern and eastern Indiana.
Last year, the state medical board placed clinic president Dr. William Hedrick's medical license on probation over his prescription practices. On Monday, the attorney general's office filed a petition asking the board for a 90-day summary suspension of Hedrick's license, alleging he represents "a clear and immediate danger to the public health and safety."
The full board is expected to consider the request during its Thursday meeting. Hedrick can practice until the board rules otherwise.
The application for Monday's search warrant lists eight drug overdose deaths of patients who received prescriptions from either Hedrick or one of his clinics' nurse practitioners between January 2013 and July 2014.
Hedrick has denied wrongdoing in the past. He declined to talk with The Star Press (http://tspne.ws/1wrMoOu ) as he left the Muncie clinic Monday. Messages from The Associated Press to Hedrick's clinic and for an attorney who represented him before the medical board last year weren't immediately returned Tuesday.
Delaware County Deputy Prosecutor Zach Craig said Monday's search stems from an investigation that started more than a year ago. He said the investigation at the Muncie clinic included reports of "inappropriate" prescribing procedures and the "vast number of patients that are being seen here."
An affidavit for the search warrant cited a pharmacist as often seeing 100 prescriptions a day written for painkillers and muscle relaxers from the Muncie clinic and had stopped filling many of those prescriptions.
No criminal charges have been filed in the investigation.
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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com
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