In an unprecedented move the Sheriff’s Office of Ravalli County, Montana has filed nearly 400 felony charges against a doctor, who is being held responsible for the deaths of two of his patients. The law enforcement authorities of the area explained that the physician was being held because he is believed to have overprescribed pain medication which resulted in the death of two of his patients and harmed nine others.
Dr. Christensen was taken into custody from Florence County and is now being held under a bond of $200,000. The charges filed against him include 2 counts of negligent homicide for the patients who died; criminal endangerment charges for the 9 patients who suffered harm and nearly 400 felony charges for the distribution of harmful substances.
Christensen’s license was suspended in April 2014 after a raid on his clinic led to the seizure of drugs, cash and patient medical records which showed that the doctor had indiscriminately prescribed pain medication to his patients. Subsequently, he was issued a probationary license earlier this year.
Of the two patients who passed away due to the negligence of Christensen, one was Kara Philbrick-Lenker. The 43 year old was prescribed methadone by Christensen despite a history of overdose. In fact, she approached Christensen after her primary physician refused to prescribe methadone to her. She died within 3 days of receiving the prescription.
Christensen can be called a drug peddler operating in the guise of a physician. His patients claim that he knew the drugs by their street name and prices, so much so that many pharmacists refused to fill out prescriptions from him. The police say that he would pocket as much as $500,000 from these drug dealings which would always be done in cash.
Earlier, he was accused of similar misdoings in Idaho where his license was suspended. He then moved to Montana where he had a fabulous run as the supplier of prescriptions that allowed drug sellers to freely peddle their ware.