Robert Courtney (fraudster)

Last updated

Robert Courtney
Born
Robert Ray Courtney

(1952-09-15) September 15, 1952 (age 72)
Hays, Kansas, U.S.
Alma mater University of Missouri-Kansas City
OccupationFormer pharmacist
Criminal charge(s)Tampering with drugs, adulteration or mislabeling of drugs [1] [2]
Criminal penalty30 years in prison, $25,000 fine, $10.4 million restitution
Criminal statusFebruary 27, 2002 (pleaded guilty), Incarcerated at FCI Englewood [3]
Spouse [4]
Children5 [4]

Robert Ray Courtney (born September 15, 1952) is an American former pharmacist from Kansas City, Missouri. [1] In 2002, after initially being caught diluting several doses of chemotherapy drugs, he pleaded guilty to intentionally diluting 98,000 prescriptions involving multiple types of drugs, which were given to 4,200 patients, and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Courtney was born in Hays, Kansas. His father was a traveling minister based in Scott City, and described Courtney as an "ideal son". He played the trombone at Wichita South High School. Courtney graduated from the School of Pharmacy at University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1975.

Adult life

In 1986, Courtney became the owner of Research Medical Tower Pharmacy in Kansas City, where he had worked for some time. He primarily mixed intravenous drugs. Before his arrest, Courtney served as a deacon at Northland Cathedral, an Assemblies of God megachurch in Kansas City. [5]

In 1992, he and his first wife divorced. Courtney retained custody of their two daughters. [1] His second marriage lasted four or five days and was later annulled. [1] In 1994, his third wife, Laura Courtney, gave birth to twins. [4] [1] In August 2001, the same month he was arrested, Courtney held total assets worth $18.7 million. [1]

Dilution fraud

In 1990, Courtney began purchasing pharmaceuticals on the gray market and using them to fill prescriptions at his pharmacy. In time he began diluting prescriptions to increase profits. Both practices were illegal. [1]

In 1998, Eli Lilly sales representative Darryl Ashley noticed Courtney was selling three times the amount that he'd bought of the cancer drug Gemzar. Eli Lilly initiated an internal investigation but found no evidence of illegality and closed the investigation without further action. [1] [5] [6]

In early 2001, several nurses in the office of Dr. Verda Hunter (now Hicks), an oncologist in Courtney's building, noticed that several of Hunter's patients weren't experiencing the debilitating side effects that are normally the case with chemotherapy regimens. They voiced their concerns to Ashley, who wondered if Hunter's patients were actually getting the full prescribed dose. When he reviewed the utilization records, he discovered the same problem that he'd seen in 1998; Courtney appeared to be selling Gemzar for $20 per vial less than what the drug was worth at the market, appearing to take a substantial loss. Combined with the lack of side effects, it led Ashley to suspect that Courtney might be diluting the drugs. Ashley said years later that if he was right, Courtney was committing "a hideous crime". [7]

Hunter also noticed that many of her patients were only suffering mild side effects, and their condition didn't seem to be improving. [5] [6] Hunter had medication that had been supplied by Courtney tested. The results showed that the sample contained less than one-third of the drug prescribed. Upon receiving the test results back, Hunter immediately cut ties with Courtney and notified the FBI. [1] [5] [7]

Investigation

Investigators with the FBI and FDA initially didn't believe that a pharmacist would do something so egregious; pharmacists have long been among the most trusted professionals in the country and the world. They initially hoped there was an innocent explanation. However, when Hunter showed them the test results, they realized that she was telling the truth. [5] [7]

Hunter submitted seven additional samples for testing by the FDA's forensic chemistry lab. Tests on those samples revealed that they only contained a fraction of the prescribed dosage–as little as 15 percent, and at most 39 percent. They immediately knew that they had to move quickly. While health care fraud cases normally take years to build, the investigators knew they didn't have that long. They spared no expense to stop Courtney, considering it a matter of public safety. [5] [7]

Investigators believed that Courtney took a base dose of chemotherapy drugs and split it between three prescriptions, then sold them to oncologists for the same price as a full dose. He took advantage of the fact that oncologists are usually concerned mainly with chemotherapy's effects on the body, not the amount of the dose. [5] While he was supposed to prepare infusions with $3,000 worth of chemotherapy drugs, the solutions he prepared were equivalent to only $700, turning a significant profit. [7]

Even with damning evidence that Courtney was diluting drugs, federal prosecutors asked the FBI and FDA to establish a chain of custody in order to get probable cause for an arrest. Prosecutors believed that since there were other pharmacists in the building, they needed to tie any diluted drugs directly to Courtney, and show that he was the only one who was diluting drugs. With this in mind, investigators persuaded Hunter to help them in a sting operation. [7]

Hunter gave Courtney several prescriptions for fictitious patients. Courtney mixed the drugs, initialed the infusion bags, and personally took them to Hunter's office. Federal agents had them tested at the FDA lab. The samples contained less than 30 percent of the prescribed dosage, and in some cases contained no detectable chemotherapy at all. Agents believed that giving patients infusions with no active drugs was no different than giving them saline solution. [7]

Arrest

On August 13, 2001, federal agents raided Research Medical Tower Pharmacy. They told Courtney that they were investigating a pharmacist, and needed to get information about who prepared the chemo infusions for Hunter's patients. Courtney acknowledged he'd prepared them–and thus unwittingly confessed to diluting drugs. On August 14, federal agents told Courtney that he was the target of the investigation, and shut his pharmacy down. [7]

On August 15, Courtney surrendered to authorities and was charged with one count of adulterating and misbranding drugs. Investigators reported that before turning himself in, Courtney gave $80,000 in cash, and more than 100 doses of Prozac to his wife. [5]

The news of Courtney's arrest sent the Kansas City area into a panic. The FBI urged anyone who had ever received chemotherapy infusions from Courtney to come forward. [7]

Faced with the mounting evidence, Courtney gave investigators a list of three medications that he diluted, and a list of 34 affected patients. He claimed to have only started diluting drugs a few months ago, a claim no one believed. He openly admitted he did it to pay off a $1 million donation to the Northland Cathedral building fund. On August 23, 2001, Courtney was indicted on 20 counts of tampering with consumer products and adulterating and misbranding drugs. [5]

Many patients and survivors wanted him charged with murder, as did federal investigators. While the FBI and FDA believed he was essentially a serial killer, federal prosecutors believed a murder charge would be hard to prove, since many patients were suffering from late-stage cancer. [5] Additionally, oncology experts told the FBI that there was no way to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the diluted chemotherapy directly contributed to patients dying. [7]

Courtney also was named as a defendant in approximately 300 suits for fraud and wrongful death. [2] In one case a jury awarded the plaintiff, Georgia Hayes, a total of $2.2 billion in damages. [8] Although Hayes knew she would likely never see that money because his assets had been frozen, she wanted to send a message that this type of deceit was not worth the cost. [5]

Eli Lilly and Bristol Myers-Squibb were named in several of the civil suits. Eli Lilly ultimately settled the suits for $48 million. Bristol Myers-Squibb paid $24 million. [5]

Plea Deal and Sentencing

Facing the prospect of life in prison if convicted at trial, on February 20, 2002, Courtney pleaded guilty to 20 federal counts of tampering and adulterating the chemotherapy drugs Taxol and Gemzar. He also acknowledged that he and his corporation, Courtney Pharmacy Inc., had weakened drugs, conspired to traffic in stolen drugs and caused the filing of false Medicare claims. [2] Prosecutors sought a plea deal because they believed it was the only way to get to the bottom of his scheme. [7]

According to law enforcement estimates, as well as his own confession, from 1992 to 2001, Courtney diluted 98,000 prescriptions from 400 doctors, which were given to 4,200 patients. Courtney admitted to diluting 72 different kinds of drugs. Besides chemotherapy treatments, he admitted diluting medications for diabetes and AIDS patients, as well as fertility treatments. [1] [5] He subsequently admitted that he had been diluting drugs for his entire career–as he put it, "whatever I could dilute, I did dilute". Over the course of his career, he earned over $19 million, a figure that FBI agent Melissa Osborne called "blood money". [7] On December 5, 2002, Courtney was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. [1]

Prison life

Courtney, Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate number 14536-045, started his sentence at Gilmer Federal Correctional Institution near Glenville, West Virginia before being transferred to Englewood Federal Correctional Institution near Littleton, Colorado. His projected release date is on May 2, 2026, when he will be 74 years old.

In July 2020, Courtney was considered for release seven years early, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He would have served the remainder of his sentence on house arrest in Trimble, Missouri. [9] In his request for early release, Courtney cited numerous health issues, such as a stroke and hypertension. Amid a community and bipartisan outcry, federal judge Ortrie D. Smith turned the request down on September 1, 2020, saying that Courtney's crimes were "vastly different" than was normally the case for defendants seeking compassionate release. [10]

In spring 2024, families of victims received a notice that Courtney would be released to a Community Corrections Center, or halfway house, in Springfield, Missouri on June 20, 2024. [11]

The Law & Order: Criminal Intent second season episode from November 2002, Malignant, is a fictional story based in great part on the above events.

In 2008, an episode of American Greed entitled "Deadly Rx For Greed" recounted Courtney's crimes, trial and conviction. [5] In 2020, an episode of Oxygen's License to Kill, entitled "Deadly Pharmacist," chronicled Courtney's misdeeds. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laudanum</span> Tincture of opium

Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight. Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy in alcohol (ethanol).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Over-the-counter drug</span> Medication available without a prescription

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid prescription. In many countries, OTC drugs are selected by a regulatory agency to ensure that they contain ingredients that are safe and effective when used without a physician's care. OTC drugs are usually regulated according to their active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and strengths of final products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharmacy</span> Clinical health science

Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links health sciences with pharmaceutical sciences and natural sciences. The professional practice is becoming more clinically oriented as most of the drugs are now manufactured by pharmaceutical industries. Based on the setting, pharmacy practice is either classified as community or institutional pharmacy. Providing direct patient care in the community of institutional pharmacies is considered clinical pharmacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical prescription</span> Health-care communication from a physician to a pharmacist

A prescription, often abbreviated ℞ or Rx, is a formal communication from a physician or other registered healthcare professional to a pharmacist, authorizing them to dispense a specific prescription drug for a specific patient. Historically, it was a physician's instruction to an apothecary listing the materials to be compounded into a treatment—the symbol ℞ comes from the first word of a medieval prescription, Latin recipe, that gave the list of the materials to be compounded.

Prescription drug list prices in the United States continually are among the highest in the world. The high cost of prescription drugs became a major topic of discussion in the 21st century, leading up to the American health care reform debate of 2009, and received renewed attention in 2015. One major reason for high prescription drug prices in the United States relative to other countries is the inability of government-granted monopolies in the American health care sector to use their bargaining power to negotiate lower prices, and the American payer ends up subsidizing the world's R&D spending on drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prescription drug</span> Medication legally requiring a medical prescription before it can be dispensed

A prescription drug is a pharmaceutical drug that is permitted to be dispensed only to those with a medical prescription. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prochlorperazine</span> Medication for nausea, psychosis, and anxiety

Prochlorperazine, formerly sold under the brand name Compazine among others, is a medication used to treat nausea, migraines, schizophrenia, psychosis and anxiety. It is a less preferred medication for anxiety. It may be taken by mouth, rectally, injection into a vein, or injection into a muscle.

An independent pharmacy is a retail pharmacy that is not directly affiliated with any chain of pharmacies and is not owned by a publicly traded company. Independent pharmacies are pharmacist-owned, privately held businesses in varying practice settings. They include single-store operations, pharmacist-owned multiple store locations, franchise, compounding, long-term care (LTC), specialty, and supermarket pharmacy operation. Independent pharmacy owners generally have more flexibility to build personalized customer relationships and they strive to differentiate their services from big-chain corporations.

An online pharmacy, internet pharmacy, or mail-order pharmacy is a pharmacy that operates over the Internet and sends orders to customers through mail, shipping companies, or online pharmacy web portal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compounding</span> Preparation of a custom medication

In the field of pharmacy, compounding is preparation of custom medications to fit unique needs of patients that cannot be met with mass-produced products. This may be done, for example, to provide medication in a form easier for a given patient to ingest, or to avoid a non-active ingredient a patient is allergic to, or to provide an exact dose that isn't otherwise available. This kind of patient-specific compounding, according to a prescriber's specifications, is referred to as "traditional" compounding. The nature of patient need for such customization can range from absolute necessity to individual optimality to even preference.

A combination drug or a fixed-dose combination (FDC) is a medicine that includes two or more active ingredients combined in a single dosage form. Terms like "combination drug" or "combination drug product" can be common shorthand for an FDC product, although the latter is more precise if in fact referring to a mass-produced product having a predetermined combination of drugs and respective dosages. And it should also be distinguished from the term "combination product" in medical contexts, which without further specification can refer to products that combine different types of medical products—such as device/drug combinations as opposed to drug/drug combinations. When a combination drug product is a "pill", then it may also be a kind of "polypill" or combopill.

A veterinary pharmacist is a specially trained pharmacist who dispenses veterinary drugs and supplies or products and advice to owners of companion animals and livestock. In addition, they advise the regulatory bodies and are involved in the formulation of veterinary drugs. Veterinary pharmacy is a field of pharmacy practice, in which veterinary pharmacists may compound medications, fill prescriptions, and manage drug therapies for animals. Veterinary pharmacists are licensed pharmacists who specialize in the distribution of medications for animals.

Over-the-counter counseling refers to the counseling that a pharmacist may provide on the subject of initiating, modifying, or stopping an over-the-counter (OTC) drug product. OTC counseling requires an assessment of the patient's self-care concerns and drug-related needs. The types of drugs that are involved in OTC counseling are, for example, used to treat self-diagnosable conditions like heartburn, cough, and rashes, though prescription drugs and professional diagnoses are also relevant to the recommendation process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharmacy (shop)</span> Shop that provides pharmaceutical drugs

A pharmacy is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of medical prescriptions and is available to counsel patients about prescription and over-the-counter drugs or about health problems and wellness issues. A typical pharmacy would be in the commercial area of a community.

Electronic prescription is the computer-based electronic generation, transmission, and filling of a medical prescription, taking the place of paper and faxed prescriptions. E-prescribing allows a physician, physician assistant, pharmacist, or nurse practitioner to use digital prescription software to electronically transmit a new prescription or renewal authorization to a community or mail-order pharmacy. It outlines the ability to send error-free, accurate, and understandable prescriptions electronically from the healthcare provider to the pharmacy. E-prescribing is meant to reduce the risks associated with traditional prescription script writing. It is also one of the major reasons for the push for electronic medical records. By sharing medical prescription information, e-prescribing seeks to connect the patient's team of healthcare providers to facilitate knowledgeable decision making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug packaging</span> Packaging for pharmaceutical preparations

Drug packaging is process of packing pharmaceutical preparations for distribution, and the physical packaging in which they are stored. It involves all of the operations from production through drug distribution channels to the end consumer.

There are approximately 88,000 pharmacies in the United States. Over half are located within drug stores, grocery stores, hospitals, department stores, medical clinics, surgery clinics, universities, nursing homes, prisons, and other facilities. The remaining pharmacies are considered to be independent or privately owned. The top 25 pharmacy chain stores represent about 38,000 pharmacy locations in the U.S. and employ about 149,000 on-staff pharmacists. California has 8,015 pharmacies, the most of any state. Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania round out the top five states for pharmacy locations. Nationwide, the number of community pharmacies increased by 6.3% between 2007-2015, and the number of pharmacies per 10,000 people (2.11) did not change. However, the number of pharmacies per-capita varies substantially across counties, ranging from 0 to 13.6 per- 10,000 people in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak</span> Ongoing fungal meningitis outbreak in the US

A New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak that began in September 2012 sickened 798 individuals and resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people. In September 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with state and local health departments and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), began investigating a multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis and other infections among patients who had received contaminated steroid injections from the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts. The NECC was classified as a compounding pharmacy. The traditional role of compounding pharmacies is to make drugs prescribed by doctors for specific patients with needs that can't be met by commercially available drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug Quality and Security Act</span>

The Drug Quality and Security Act is a law that amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to grant the Food and Drug Administration more authority to regulate and monitor the manufacturing of compounded drugs. The bill was written in response to the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak that took place in 2012, which killed 64 people. The bill was signed by President Obama on November 27, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug labelling</span>

Drug labelling is also referred to as prescription labelling, is a written, printed or graphic matter upon any drugs or any of its container, or accompanying such a drug. Drug labels seek to identify drug contents and to state specific instructions or warnings for administration, storage and disposal. Since 1800s, legislation has been advocated to stipulate the formats of drug labelling due to the demand for an equitable trading platform, the need of identification of toxins and the awareness of public health. Variations in healthcare system, drug incidents and commercial utilization may attribute to different regional or national drug label requirements. Despite the advancement in drug labelling, medication errors are partly associated with undesirable drug label formatting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Draper, Robert (June 8, 2003). "The Toxic Pharmacist". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Thousands of Diluted Drugs". CBS News . April 19, 2002. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  3. ↑ Dan MR> Margolies (July 13, 2020). "Kansas City Pharmacist Who Diluted Cancer Meds Is Getting Out Of Prison Early". KCUR. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ambition gone awry? The life of Robert R. Courtney". Kansas City Star . September 9, 2001.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Deadly Rx For Greed". American Greed (CNBC). 2008. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Did drugmaker know about pharmacist's tampering?". Deseret News . Associated Press. August 27, 2001. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 License To Kill: Deadly Pharmacist (Television Production). United States: Oxygen. 2020.
  8. ↑ "Jury awards plaintiff $2.2B in Courtney case". Kansas City Business Journal . October 11, 2002. Archived from the original on October 29, 2002. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  9. ↑ Dan Margolies (July 13, 2020). "Kansas City Pharmacist Who Diluted Cancer Meds Is Getting Out Of Pri son Early". KCUR. Archived from the original on August 18, 2024. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  10. ↑ Katie Moore (September 1, 2020). "Federal judge denies former pharmacist Robert Courtney's request for early release". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Families of Robert Courtney's victims learn ex-pharmacist to be moved to halfway house". FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. April 17, 2024. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.