A psychiatrist of Indian origin based in Clayton, Georgia has been arrested over suspicion of over-prescribing prescription medication. It was also reported that 36 of his patients died due to the alleged over-prescribing.
In a report by Indian Express, the psychiatrist was identified as Narendra Nagareddy and was dubbed by police as "Dr. Death." Reports say that 36 of his patients died and at least 12 of those people were confirmed by autopsy reports to have been killed by overdose on prescription medication.
One of the patients of Nagareddy, identified as the 29-year-old and mother of two, Audrey Austin, died of a fatal prescription drug overdose after she visited the psychiatrist. The mother of Austin, Ruth Carr, said in a statement that her daughter was an addict and Nagareddy's prescription made it easy for her to suffice her addiction.
Clayton County Police Chief Mike Register said in a statement as per report of Financial Prospect, "He's a psychiatrist in Jonesboro who has been over-prescribing opiates and benzodiazepine and the last several years has had a multitude of overdoses and overdose deaths."
Around 40 federal and local agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Clayton County District Attorney's office, the Clayton County Police Department and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision raided the offices of Nagareddy as well as his home.
His other patients, both former and current, also admitted that they obtained controlled substance prescriptions from the psychiatrist.
According to Inquisitr, in a September 2015 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States is "in the midst of prescription painkiller overdose epidemic."
Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said in a statement that Nagareddy is charged with prescribing pain medication. Such practice is outside of his profession as a psychiatrist and not for a "legitimate purpose for the patient."
