Honolulu psychiatrist charged with prescribing drugs to officers without exams

April 20, 2012

HONOLULU — A Honolulu psychiatrist is accused of improperly prescribing large quantities of powerful pain medication and other drugs to law enforcement officers.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Dr. Shepard Ginandes. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/HQxn1c ) reported Tuesday he's charged with 22 counts of distributing methadone, morphine, oxycodone and other drugs outside the course of professional medical practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says he did not take officers' medical histories, did not require them to fill out any paperwork and did not conduct physical examinations.

The DEA says his office didn't even have an exam room or medical equipment and officers simply had to write down their names, addresses and drugs they were seeking.

His attorney declined to comment.

Source: "Honolulu doctor facing charges of improperly prescribing pain medication, drugs to officers," Associated Press, April 17, 2012.