A former physician at a Bolivar health clinic was sentenced this week to two years in federal prison and a $10,000 fine for illegally distributing prescription drugs.
Nolan Crisp, 76, of Halfway, was sentenced Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes. Crisp pleaded guilty in April, agreeing to surrender his license to practice medicine and never again seek to practice medicine in the U.S., according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Crisp worked at Pomme de Terre Wellness Center, aka the Bolivar Family Wellness Clinic and Northwoods Psychiatric Services Inc., June 2009-Nov. 10, 2010, providing pain management and other services to patients.
In his guilty plea, Crisp admitted he wrote prescriptions for OxyContin, oxycodone hydrochloride and oxycodone-aspirin for a purported patient with whom he had a sexual relationship. Because the person had no legitimate medical need for the prescriptions, they were illegal, the release said.
Clinic employees also reported that Crisp met people in the parking lot and gave them prescriptions, even though they were not being seen in the clinic. According to the release and employees, patients also waited in a church parking lot across the street for prescriptions. Also, clinic nurses sometimes ran drug screens revealing patients did not take the drugs being prescribed, but Crisp continued to write the prescriptions.
“A doctor handing out prescriptions in the parking lot is no better than a drug dealer on the street corner,” Dickinson said in the release. “As a professional who certainly knew the health risks and the threat to public safety, he betrayed his oath and the trust of the community in order to profit from the dangerous abuse of prescription drugs.”
The federal investigation included reviews of overdose reports from Bolivar-based Citizens Memorial Hospital, Crisp's appointment schedule at the clinic, his Medicaid billing records, information regarding prescriptions written by Crisp and filled at six major Bolivar pharmacies and information from the Polk County Coroner.
During Crisp's time working at the clinic, 96 overdose incidents were reported at the hospital, 29 of whom were connected to his care. During that same time period, six of the patients who died from overdoses were connected to his care, according to the release.
An internal medicine physician specializing in pain management, who reviewed patient files on behalf of the government, found Crisp's treatment was life-threatening and inconsistent with sound medical practice.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindi Woolery and was investigated by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bolivar Police Department and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
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