Delaware Psychiatrist Karl McIntosh Sentenced for Illegal Prescriptions

September 26, 2019

A Wilmington psychiatrist received no jail time for writing prescriptions in the names of his children without medical documentation.

In 2017, Dr. Karl McIntosh had prescribed and picked up medicine in the names of his children as well as a person living in Florida this past summer — prescriptions that were at least partially paid for by insurance, according to court documents. 

The mother of those children, McIntosh's ex-wife, told police they had never been diagnosed with the disorders the medication in question would treat, the affidavit stated.

McIntosh was indicted by a New Castle County Grand Jury and charged with three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery or subterfuge; three counts of second-degree forgery; three counts of health-care fraud and three counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, according to his indictment.

McIntosh served as president of the Delaware Board of Medicine from 2006 to 2008 and was the board's vice president in 2005 and its secretary-treasurer in 2004. 

When a consumer advocacy organization rated Delaware's board of medical practice among the worst in the nation at disciplining doctors, McIntosh defended the board's practices.

He pleaded guilty to third-degree forgery and falsifying business records in his 2017 trial.

On Sept. 12, a Superior Court judge sentenced him to two years of probation.

The judge also ordered an evaluation of McIntosh's substance use and mental health.

Source: "Wilmington doctor who falsified prescriptions sentenced, Delaware News Journal, September 20, 2019. URL: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/09/20/no-jail-time-wilmington-doctor-who-falsified-prescriptions/2302919001/