PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — State prosecutors have arrested and charged a West Philadelphia doctor after they say he prescribed a large amount of morphine and oxycodone to a patient who died of an overdose the following day.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General says Dr. Walter Wrenn prescribed large amounts of Morphine, Oxycodone, Alprazolam — an antidepressant — and Temazepam — a drug to help with sleeping — to a patient on March 2, 2019.
The following the day, the patient died of an overdose involving oxycodone, morphine and cocaine.
They say Wrenn, who is listed as an internal medicine practitioner with an office at 52nd and Chestnut streets, also lied about the patient’s diagnosis to the state’s Medicaid office, claiming the patient had metastatic lung cancer.
When officials did an autopsy, his medical records showed the patient never had the disease.
Wrenn is charged with drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter and tampering with records and Medicaid fraud.
Wrenn lives in New Jersey and is expected to be extradited later this week or next.