A 60-year-old New Jersey cardiologist was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on Wednesday for prescribing thousands of Oxycodone pills to a patient and his wife without a medical reason, according to the Department of Justice.
Between January 2016 and March 2017, Raymond Catania prescribed thousands of pills to one patient “without a legitimate medical purpose and outside of the usual course of professional practice.”
He also issued oxycodone prescriptions for the patient’s wife, even though she wasn’t his patient.
Oxycodone is highly addictive. Oxycodone and Purdue Pharmaceutical’s brand-name version Oxycontin were made infamous during the U.S. opioid epidemic as one of the most commonly abused opioids in the country.
Catania issued more than 8,600 unnecessary oxycodone 30 mg pills while working as a doctor at the eponymous Barone & Catania Cardiovascular Group in Watchung.
Catania had over 21 years of experience, according to U.S. News’ health care provider aggregator service.
He pleaded guilty in March 2021.
In addition to the 30-month sentence, the judge fined Catania $25,000 and sentenced him to three years supervised release.