NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island doctor has been charged with murder for prescribing opioids that led to the death of five patients, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said Thursday.
George Blatti, 75, was arraigned on five counts of murder for "depraved" prescription abuse, Singas said at a news briefing.
Biatti was also charged with 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree for "endangering" the lives of six other patients, officials said.
In 2019, Blatti was indicted for the reckless and illegal prescribing practices that he engaged in.
In subsequent months, officials discovered that the physican "allegedly ignored relentless warnings regarding the dangers posed by his perscribing practices," Signas said.
Investigators found that Dr. Blatti had received stacks of letters from insurance companies warning about his overprescribing of opioids.
Pharmacies warned him and even relatives of his patients, called him, demanding that he stop prescribing opioids to their loved ones.
At least three patients asked Dr. Blatti to stop being prescribed opioids and even sought help, The State Office of Professional Medical Conduct said.
Despite "unmistakable signs" that his patients were suffering from an addiction that was "debilitating", Blatti allegedly continued to prescribed "shockingly reckless and foreseeably lethal doses of dangerous painkillers all the while billing insurance and collecting cash," Singas alleged.
Each death can be "traced back to prescriptions he wrote," she said, adding that several of Blatti's patients were far too young to die from natural causes yet he allegedly continued to prescribe "massive and staggering quantities of dangerous and addictive medications" of prescriptions that served no medical purpose.
The DA also alleged that at times Blatti would issue prescriptions while seated in his car with no examination done of his patient's conditions.
Blatti faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
