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A former Santa Rosa doctor was sentenced to 30 months in jail for prescribing dangerous, high-dosage drugs without “legitimate medical need” to a 17-year-old patient who later died of an overdose, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Thomas Keller, 75, was convicted on four counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances on Nov. 3, 2022. A federal judge confirmed his sentence Friday.
Keller was indicted on Sept. 27, 2018, after evidence showed that he knowingly prescribed “oxycodone and other strong, addictive drugs” at dangerous levels and combinations to a teenage patient.
At trial, prosecutors presented Keller’s own journal entries, which the government argued proved that he was aware of the drugs’ addictiveness and that his prescriptions were outside typical guidance.
Additionally, Keller’s 17-year-old patient was struggling with mental health issues, making the prescriptions even more unsafe, the DOJ said.
The patient died from an overdose in July 2017, after Keller had been prescribing her oxycodone and other controlled substances in dangerous combination for over six months.
Keller was ordered to surrender by Sept. 8 to begin his prison sentence. After his sentence, he will be on supervised release for three years.
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Tami Michaud