A corrupt Kansas doctor and his wife were resentenced this week to decades in prison for their abusive prescription fraud scheme that led to numerous patients’ addictions and almost 70 fatal overdoses.
Dr. Stephen Schneider and his assistant wife, Linda Schneider, had pleaded with the judge to reconsider more lenient prison terms leading up to Thursday’s ruling. But the court, on reconsideration, again refused to show them mercy:
“Even here today I don't think you appreciate all the harm you caused … the deaths, addictions … all to get money,” U.S. District Judge Monti Belot reproached. “If there was any decent medical care, it pales in comparison.”
The couple was convicted in 2010 of a conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud that involved unnecessarily prescribing controlled-substances to thousands of people in their suburban community, as well as money laundering.
Prosecutors said that upwards of 100 patients per day came and went from the Schneider’s notorious medical facility. Most of whom never saw the doctor himself or any other licensed provider there but were instead given pre-signed prescriptions by staff.
As a result, an untold number became addicted to the painkillers that were being handed out at the Haysville clinic like candy, and --as the judge observed from his own burgeoning criminal docket -- even resorted to crime to support their dependencies.
An additional 68 patients died of accidental overdoses, their wrongful deaths leading to an estimated 30-year prison sentence apiece for the 62-year-old physician and his 57-year-old wife.
Both of those sentences were upheld on Thursday, despite re-argument.
