MARCH 08, 2019 03:52 PM, UPDATED
MARCH 08, 2019 07:42 PM
A
Wichita doctor who illegally distributed addictive prescription drugs has been
sentenced to life in federal prison.
Judge
J. Thomas Marten said it is “quite clear” that Dr. Steven R. Henson, 57, wrote
multiple prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose and “abused his
position of trust as a licensed physician.”
“I have
sentenced people to life before,” Marten said in court Friday. “They were
people who took guns and shot people.”
The investigation began after
a pharmacist raised concerns that a doctor was over-prescribing controlled pain
medications. One man died from an overdose after getting a prescription from
the doctor.
“I want this case to send a message to
physicians and the health care community,” U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister
said in a statement. “Unlawfully distributing opioids and other controlled
substances is a federal crime that could end a medical career and send an
offender to prison.
“We are
dealing with an epidemic. Nationwide, more than 70,000 Americans died in 2017
from drug overdoses. That is more than all the American casualties during the
war in Vietnam.”
Nicholas “Nick” McGovern died
in July 2015 after overdosing on a mix of alprazolam and methadone prescribed
to him by Henson. It was the count relating to McGovern’s death on which Henson
was sentenced to life in prison.
“There
is a big difference between losing a family member and still being able to see
a family member through a piece of glass,” said McGovern’s stepdaughter,
Tatiana Lujano, at the sentencing.
Lujano
called McGovern her “sweet daddy” before breaking down in tears.
“He was
like my real dad,” she said. “He was my father figure for as long as I can
remember. He is the reason I am the young woman I am today.”
She
said that Henson was “all about the money.”
Defense
attorney Michael Thompson contended during sentencing that Henson wasn’t
writing the prescriptions “to make easy money on the side” because he didn’t
need to. He said that the doctor “tried to do what he thought was best for his
patients.”
“I only
had one goal in life as a physician,” Henson said, “and that was to take
excellent care of patients and to increase their functionality,” adding that he
tried to serve the under-served in the community and worldwide through mission
trips.
But the
judge cited Henson’s own testimony during the trial that he raised his fee from
$50 to $300 to help pay rent on his medical office.
Federal
investigators discovered that Henson would give pain-med prescriptions to
patients for $300 in cash at a time, with few questions asked. The investigation
began in 2014 with a pharmacist’s concern that a doctor was over-prescribing
controlled medications.
Prosecutors
said Henson falsified patient records during the federal investigation in
addition to obstructing investigators.
Drug
Enforcement Administration agents showed Henson a search warrant before
searching his home in August 15, but over an hour and a half into the search,
the doctor called 911 to report an armed burglary. The ensuing police response
“created a potentially deadly situation,” the judge said.
Henson
was found guilty in October of
two counts of conspiracy to distribute prescription drugs outside the course of
medical practice; 13 counts of unlawfully distributing oxycodone; unlawfully
distributing oxycodone, methadone and alprazolam; unlawfully distributing
methadone and alprazolam, the use of which resulted in the death of a victim;
presenting false patient records to investigators; obstruction of justice; and
six counts of money laundering.
He was
a doctor at Kansas Men’s Clinic at 3636 N. Ridge Road.
“Before
you, he wouldn’t even take an aspirin for a headache,” Denise McGovern, Nick’s
mother, said in a statement during sentencing. “... He was sent to you by his
physician. You made him into an addict.”
Opioids are a growing problem in
Kansas, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation has said. From 2012 to
2017, KBI labs saw a 615 percent increase in heroin samples being submitted and
a 250 percent rise in fentanyl.
The National
Association of Attorneys General has researched cases of doctors being
criminally prosecuted for over-prescribing controlled substances. Cases had
been resolved against 378 doctors by the end of 2016, their study found,
including three from Kansas.
“The
prosecution of cases involving a health professional’s misuse of medical
expertise and authority is extremely important to fight the opioid epidemic,”
McAllister said. “The vast majority of health care providers are people of
integrity who follow their oath to help others, abide by the law, and do all
they can to protect patients from becoming addicted. The evidence showed that
is not what Dr. Henson did in this case.
“For
any doctors, pharmacists or nurses who disregard their oath and distribute powerful
drugs illegally to enrich themselves, the message today is that they will be
prosecuted to the full extent allowed by federal law.”
Defense
attorneys asked for a 20-year prison sentence, saying that Henson led a “model
life” outside of this case.
“Maybe
he wasn’t the best physician,” his attorney said. “He made some very serious
mistakes. He wrote these prescriptions not out of greed, malice or ill intent.
He was trying to help his patients. That was his goal.”
The
judge said he had only met three or four people who he thought were “filled
with evil and beyond redemption.”
“In
some respects, what I’ve seen from you is worse, in that you don’t seem to
understand,” Marten said. “I really don’t think that you get it. I think that
in some respects you were numb to what you were doing over time. ... I just
wonder if your practices have had any impact on you. It seems as if you’re
still thinking, ‘Why am I here, what did I do wrong?’”
“You
seem to be missing some kind of a piece to be able to tap in to other people’s
feeling and sufferings.”
He said
Henson’s lawyers “did a tremendous job of defending you in this trial, and they
had a difficult job,” citing overwhelming evidence and Henson’s conduct.
“Dr.
Henson, I think that you still think that you’re the smartest person in the
room and you’d be in a position to sway a jury if they just listened to what
you had to say,” Marten said.
The
judge ordered Henson to forfeit his medical license, as well as about $20,000
in cash seized from Henson’s home, about $580,000 representing the proceeds of
the crimes, multiple guns and an SUV. He also imposed a $2,325 special
assessment to the crime victims fund, but no fine.
Henson’s
bond was revoked and he was immediately taken into custody by U.S. marshals
after emptying his pockets.
“No
sentence will bring Nick back to us,” said his wife, Burgundy Castillo. “But if
Steven Henson had treated Nick instead of enabling him, he would have still
been with us today.”
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