Doctor charged with making 50,000 improper prescriptions

ST. LOUIS -- A 78-year-old Jefferson County doctor faces federal charges for allegedly writing 50,000 illegal prescriptions, prosecutors said.

Dr. Harry Meyer Katz, whose office is in Cedar Hill, was charged with 14 counts related to the illegal dispensation of prescription drugs, including Valium, Xanax and an acetaminophen with codeine pain reliever.

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, alleges Katz wrote unnecessary prescriptions for the drugs in exchange for $40 cash from people starting in June 1999.

Prosecutors said if Katz is convicted, they'll try to seize $2 million from the doctor for 2.5 million illegal doses of prescription drugs. The indictment said Katz has about $2.2 million in two online stock brokerage accounts, $400,000 in mutual funds and $50,000 in the bank.

His attorney, Vernon Dawdy, said Katz will plead innocent. He said the charges are not true.

The Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission said last year in a separate inquiry that Katz, who was convicted of five counts of Medicare fraud in Florida in 1971, routinely saw up to 500 patients per week. It accuses him of overprescribing painkillers to several patients who were not evaluated properly, and was repeatedly negligent.

Dawdy said it is possible to issue 50,000 legitimate prescriptions over the past five years. He said the doctor can see nine to 27 patients a day, and some may get multiple prescriptions.

"He doesn't do any surgery, which might consume time," Dawdy said. "He's a family practitioner, and he sees people in his office."

The commission also reported that Katz lost his license in three other states because of his Florida conviction.

Missouri's Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, which is responsible for disciplining doctors, said last year it could not take action against Katz for some of the violations because they were "too remote in time."

Katz kept his license to practice medicine, but was placed on probation for five years and barred from prescribing controlled substances during that period. Katz appealed, and the case is pending before the Missouri Court of Appeals.

Dawdy said the Board of Registration allowed Katz to remain licensed to practice medicine.

"The medical board had a problem with this record-keeping, basically," Dawdy said.