Detroit Doctor Sentenced for Unlawful Opioid Prescriptions

A physician who practiced in Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison today for writing prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled medications without medical justification, announced U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade. 

McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent Timothy Plancon, Drug Enforcement Administration, Detroit Division.

Lauran Bryan, 57, a plastic surgeon living in Farmington Hills, Michigan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman in Detroit, Michigan.

From 2011 through 2015, Bryan wrote prescriptions for tens of thousands of oxycodone and other controlled medications for patients, some of whom she knew to be addicted to the drugs, for no legitimate medical reason. She also wrote prescriptions in the names of associates of her patients, knowing that the associates would provide the pills to the addicted patients.

Bryan’s unlawful prescribing was somewhat unusual, in that her motive appears to have been to keep traffic coming to her struggling plastic surgery practice, rather than simply to sell opioid prescriptions for cash profit.

United States Attorney McQuade said, “Doctors who divert drugs to the street market are contributing to the overdose epidemic that kills 44 people every day in the United States.  We are focusing our efforts on bringing corrupt doctors and pharmacists to justice.”