NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK STATE: A Long Island doctor, who has been accused of writing prescriptions for “massive quantities of opioids”, which led to several patients dying, was indicted on murder charges in the first case of its kind in New York on Thursday, March 4. As per prosecutors, Dr. George Blatti ignored repeated warnings and prescribed powerful opioids Roxicodone, methadone, and Dilaudid, as well as the stimulant Adderall, which killed five patients and endangered the lives of six others.
He was arraigned Thursday before Judge Fran Ricigliano on five counts of murder in the second-degree felony and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree. He is reportedly the first doctor charged in New York with depraved indifference murder for prescription abuses. “This doctor’s prescription pad was as lethal as any murder weapon,” Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.
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“We allege that Dr. Blatti recklessly disregarded the law, his ethical obligations as a doctor, and the pleas of his patients’ family members and prescribed massive quantities of dangerous drugs to victims in the throes of addiction, ultimately killing five patients who entrusted him with their care,” Singas added.
The five patients in question died between 2016 and 2018. They included a 31-year-old volunteer firefighter who struggled with opioid use for nine years, a 50-year-old woman who suffered from acute neck pain, and a 44-year-old electrician with back pain, asthma, and COPD, prosecutors said.
Who is Dr George Blatti?
According to the New York Post, Blatti received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1976 and was in practice for more than 20 years. He reportedly worked as a family medicine doctor in Franklin Square and was affiliated with the South Nassau Communities Hospital.
He was a general practitioner with no specialized training or accreditation in pain management, reported the Post. He maintained an office in a Franklin Square location that was formerly a Radio Shack. The business still had a Radio Shack sign and merchandise racks on the walls. As per reports, he would meet patients in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts in Baldwin, a hotel parking lot in Rockville Center and at the former Radio Shack in Franklin Square.
According to prosecutors, addicts went to him with their requests for controlled medications and Blatti allegedly prescribed drugs with no medical history review or exam, in exchange for cash. In, 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration had announced that the 75-year-old Rockville Centre doctor was arraigned on a 54-count indictment charging him with allegedly selling large amounts of opioid and amphetamine prescriptions to multiple individuals without examining them.
Prosecutors said in 2019, “Based on our investigation, Dr. George Blatti was not operating a legitimate medical practice, did not examine his customers, and was selling scripts to drug-addicted individuals in parking lots across Nassau County.”
Speaking to the Long Island Herald in 2019, James Iacchini, one of his former patients, said that he and his wife, Elizabeth, were patients of his for nearly 30 years. He claimed that in his years as one of Blatti’s patients, the doctor followed all of the right procedures and that he properly treated him and his wife. “I wasn’t sure what happened exactly, but we just lost touch,” Iacchini said. “I thought he was a very good physician who treated my spouse and me very well over the years. I just hope to God that there’s no validity to this case.”
Blatti pleaded not guilty and surrendered to authorities. He was ordered jailed pending a March 30 court appearance. He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge. "This is a tragic story of lives lost at the hands of someone entrusted to save lives,” the DEA special agent in charge, Ray Donovan, said. “This defendant’s alleged conduct was unconscionable.”