Doctor And Hospital CEO Guilty Of Illegal Opioid Prescriptions

BLAIRSVILLE, GA — A Georgia hospital CEO and a doctor have been convicted on over 100 counts related to illegally prescribing thousands of pain pills for no legitimate medical purpose, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

John Gowder CEO of Union General Hospital in Blairsville, and Dr. James Heaton, operator of a family practice clinic in Blairsville, were both convicted. Heaton also worked as Union General Hospital's nursing home medical director.

According to U.S. Attorney Byung Pak, Heaton illegally prescribed increasing amounts of hydrocodone and oxycodone to Gowder between 2011 and 2016. The pills had "no legitimate medical purpose," the release says.

Heaton prescribed over 15,000 pills to Gowder, the release says, but only six of the prescriptions were recorded in his patient file.

Gowder had been filling the prescriptions for Heaton, the release says, concealing the large numbers by filling them in pharamcies in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Evidence shows that Heaton wrote Gowder multiple prescriptions on the same day on multiple occasions, the release says.

"When doctors prescribe opioids outside of the applicable rules, they are nothing but drug traffickers with a medical degree," Pak said. "Therefore, we will accordingly treat them as such."

Heaton was also convicted of 27 counts of issuing prescriptions to two patients outside the usual course of professional medical practice and for no legitimate medical purpose, the release says.

Gowder pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment on March 15, 2019, for dispensing medications outside the scope of professional practice.

Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.