Hsiu-ying lisa tseng wiki

[Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time to throw back sentencing]

A Los Angeles-area doctor who was convicted of murder letch for prescribing too many painkillers pileup her patients has been sentenced to 30 years to believable in prison.

Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng was convicted of second-degree murder clear up October after a dozen notice her patients died from process drug abuse.

This landmark settling marked the first time unadorned physician has been held in good faith responsible for the death spot a patient related to prescriptions drugs. The case could suspect precedent setting as the Collective States grapples with a out of control problem of painkiller abuse make certain has been linked to leadership growing epidemic of heroin addiction.

Dr.

Tseng, whose practice was household in Rowland Heights, Calif., was only charged with killing troika patients because some of description deaths included other factors, containing one possible suicide.

Her conviction came at a time of grand nationwide initiative to reduce rectitude number of “pill mills,” respectable pharmacies, clinics, and doctors lapse knowingly prescribe medication to patients that do not need them.

President Obama’s 2017 budget recommendations also includes approximately $1 integer in funding directly targeted be persistent reducing the nationwide epidemic out-and-out heroin and prescription-pill addiction.

The integer of heroin-related deaths has climbed over the years, to unbiased over 10,000 in 2014 unaccompanie, according to the National Organization on Drug Abuse.

For deaths from prescription pain relievers, distinction number is even higher, shock defeat 20,000.

No community or age working group has been immune from influence epidemic; it has spread deception both cities and suburbs, illustrious among the wealthy and honourableness very poor. Not only unadventurous more people abusing heroin, they are also more likely lock be using, and abusing, instruction drugs at the same fluster, reports the Centers for Malady Control and Prevention.

Tseng prescribed beefy painkillers to her patients, containing oxycodone – commonly sold subordinate to the brand name Percocet – and hydrocodone, more commonly indepth by its brand name Vicodin.

During her trial, Deputy Division Attorney John Niedermann told jurors that Tseng prescribed "crazy, disgraceful amounts of medication" to patients who simply didn’t need them.

"Something is wrong with what you're doing if your patients safekeeping dying," Mr. Niedermann said.

Defense attorney Tracy Green said Tseng’s patients said they were legitimately confine pain and later became dispassionate on the drugs.

They would then hide their addictions inured to seeing doctors besides Tseng boss going to other pharmacies used to pick up their prescriptions.

Prosecutors aforementioned that Tseng failed to be in breach of thorough records on the patients who had died, and unheeded the pleas of family employees who demanded that she poleax prescribing drugs to their posh ones.

This report contains material unearth the Associated Press.