A former physician residing in the High Desert is set to be arraigned on Monday for charges related to the illegal distribution of prescriptions for opioid painkillers and other commonly abused substances. These prescriptions were given during brief telemedicine sessions with a convicted narcotics trafficker and individuals from different parts of the country.
The accused, Raphael Malikian, 38, who lives in Llano and Palmdale, ran a medical practice called Happy Family Medicine. He now faces updated federal charges for unlawfully distributing narcotics “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” as stated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
An 18-count indictment claims that Malikian wrote prescriptions for drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam, promethazine, and codeine to patients with minimal contact.
The DEA initiated an investigation after receiving multiple reports in February 2020 regarding suspicious prescriptions issued by Malikian. The indictment describes specific incidents where Malikian prescribed controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose during seven telemedicine consultations. These consultations took place between April 2020 and July 2020, including one session conducted solely via text message.
According to prosecutors, none of these consultations involved physical examinations or diagnostic tests, and the appointments lasted as short as two minutes and 20 seconds.
The investigation involved undercover operations in which DEA and California Department of Justice agents posed as patients. They received prescriptions that form the basis of the indictment, states the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The DEA agent who drafted the affidavit concluded that Malikian “effectively sells prescriptions for controlled substances to patients upon request, and does so without obtaining a patient’s medical history or conducting a physical examination.”
Allegedly, patient records maintained by Malikian reveal that he treated patients nationwide, with approximately 43% of them sharing common addresses, email addresses, “caregivers,” or phone numbers. This information comes from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Among his patients, one was a convicted narcotics trafficker, while another was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport carrying more than $19,000 in cash and approximately 1,764 hydrocodone and alprazolam pills, as stated in the affidavit.
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