PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A West Philadelphia doctor must surrender his medical license after he was found guilty of “irresponsible” prescription practices, which led to the death of a patient.
Walter Wrenn was charged in February. Investigators say in March 2019, he prescribed large amounts of morphine, oxycodone, alprazolam (an antidepressant), and temazepam (a drug to help with sleeping) all to one patient.
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The next day, the patient died, overdosing on oxycodone, morphine and cocaine.
Officials say Wrenn lied about the patient’s diagnosis in order to prescribe the meds, telling the state’s Medicaid office that the patient had metastatic lung cancer. An autopsy later debunked that diagnosis.
Upon further review, investigators say Wrenn’s care was “woefully inadequate, in reckless disregard for patient safety and health, medically inappropriate, and did not follow all the standards of care.”
“Communities in West Philadelphia trusted Dr. Wrenn to care for their families and keep them healthy. Instead, he recklessly prescribed dangerous opioids in order to enrich himself, despite the deadly consequences,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.
The 81-year-old pleaded no contest to Medicaid fraud, public records tampering, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment, the Pennsylvania attorney general said Wednesday.
He was sentenced to five years of probation and must pay back the cost of the illegal prescriptions. He is also not allowed to practice medicine ever again.