Dr. Juan Kurdi, MD, a cardiologist in Lubbock, Texas, has agreed to pay $1,200,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) by issuing prescriptions for opioids and other powerful drugs outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Kurdi is an interventional cardiologist who co-owned and co-operated a group medical practice based in Lubbock, Texas.
In settlement documents, the government contends that Dr. Kurdi—previously a registered DEA practitioner—violated the CSA’s dispensing requirements by issuing numerous prescriptions for controlled substances, including Oxycodone, Alprazolam, Tramadol, Dextroamp-Amphetamine, Vyvanse, and others, in the names of family members and friends—but that were often intended for his own personal use. Dr. Kurdi issued these prescriptions without establishing a legitimate physician-patient relationship, performing physical examinations, or creating medical records that documented the rationale for the purported treatment. Dr. Kurdi routinely filled these prescriptions at Lubbock area pharmacies even though some of the purported recipients lived hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of miles away. In many instances, Dr. Kurdi would personally pick up the prescriptions from these pharmacies to obtain controlled substances for his own personal use.