GUILTY CA - Dr. Hsiu-Ying 'Lisa' Tseng, 42, charged in OD deaths of 3 patients, Los Angeles

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18844266&ps=931&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California doctor dubbed "Dr. Feelgood" by a prosecutor for allegedly doling out tens of thousands of prescriptions to patients who didn't need them was charged with murder Thursday in the overdose deaths of three otherwise healthy young men.

Dr. Hsui-Ying "Lisa" Tseng was arrested after a lengthy probe that involved undercover work by drug enforcement agents who posed as patients to obtain prescriptions. She's charged with overprescribing methadone, Xanax, oxycodone and other drugs.

Affidavits on file with the Osteopathic Medical Board of California showed that young men typically came to Tseng's storefront office reporting they had neck, back or wrist pain. They said they had been to other doctors who gave them other opiates that weren't working. Investigators said she did only cursory exams, then gave them more drugs.


More at link....

Murder charges against Calif. doc seen as warning

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18845755&ps=1011&cat=&cps=0&lang=en

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The prosecutor who took the rare step of charging a doctor with murder in the prescription drug overdose deaths of three patients said Friday that the case should serve as a warning to unethical physicians who become pill pushers.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said his office will continue to prosecute greedy and unethical doctors after charging Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng, 42, with second-degree murder and 21 other felony counts. If convicted of all the charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

"This case was beyond anything else we have ever seen," said Cooley, who stressed that these types of cases must be carefully researched before the extreme charge of murder is filed.

Tseng made her first court appearance Friday, wearing a pink sweatshirt and looking glum. Her arraignment was postponed until March 9, when her bail, currently $3 million, also will be reviewed.

Her lawyers declined to comment after the hearing.

Tseng is one of just a few doctors nationwide to be charged with murder related to prescription drugs. Authorities have been cracking down on drug deaths, which fueled by prescription drug overdoses now surpass traffic fatalities. But the murder charges could be hard to prove because the victims played a role by seeking out and taking the drugs.
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Tseng wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three-year period starting in January 2007 — an average of 25 a day, according to a DEA affidavit. DEA agents swept into her office in 2010 and suspended her license to write prescriptions.


More at link....

Doctor charged in fatal prescription overdoses

A 2010 Times investigation linked Tseng's prescriptions to the overdose deaths of at least eight young men, including the three named in the district attorney's complaint: Joey Rovero, 21, an Arizona State University student from San Ramon, Calif.; Vu Nguyen, 28, of Lake Forest; and Steven Ogle, 25, of Palm Desert.

All three died in 2009 after traveling long distances to see Tseng, a general practitioner. Rovero, the ASU student, drove all the way from Tempe, Ariz., with friends to get his prescriptions.

His mother, April, who has been lobbying authorities to prosecute Tseng since shortly after her son's death, said she was relieved to hear the doctor "is "finally being brought to justice."

"This is a very emotional day for all of us who loved Joey, and I'm sure it will be for everyone else whose lives have been devastated by her actions," Rovero said. "People count on their doctors to treat them professionally, and to save their lives, not take them."

Tseng had been under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration for years even as her patients continued to overdose, The Times reported

full article at link .................. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/01/local/la-me-drug-doctor-20120302

The below linked article has photos of the three young men that this doctor is being charged for their murder.

fran


Doctor charged with murder in overdose of three patients while prescribing over 27,000 in three years

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-prescribing-27-000-years.html#ixzz1oDFwVoz6

Judge not swayed by tears in doctor’s prescription pad murder case

March 16, 2012 | 12:01 pm

Judge Shelly Torrealba denied the request of Tseng's attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, to lower Tseng's bail to an amount between $750,000 and $1 million.

"I see this situation no differently than any other murder situation," Torrealba said. "Three people are dead."

Welbourn had asked the judge to consider Tseng's two young children and asked that the court "allow her to be a mother" throughout the proceedings of the case.

full article at link ...................... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...-in-doctors-prescription-pad-murder-case.html

There is a hearing going on in Los Angeles Superior Court to determine if they have enough evidence to try Dr Tseng on three counts of murder? .......... You would think they would KNOW they have enough evidence before they brought charges and arrested this woman.

JMHO
fran


Former addicts: Doctor charged with murder was easy mark for drugs

Four former heroin addicts testified Thursday that they were able to easily acquire addictive painkillers and anti-anxiety medications from Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng, a Rowland Heights doctor charged with murder in connection with three fatal overdoses.

more at link ............... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+lanowblog+(L.A.+Now)

Doctor convicted of murder after three patients overdosed on 'crazy and outrageous' amount of painkillers she prescribed

Dr. Hsiu-Ying 'Lisa' Tseng was convicted of murder after three of her patients overdosed on painkillers she prescribed

The second-degree murder convictions of Dr Tseng were the first against a U.S. doctor for recklessly prescribing drugs

A dozen of Tseng's patients died, though prosecutors only brought three murder charges

Tseng barely kept any records on the three men until she was contacted by the Medical Board of California

Tseng also ignored pleas from family members of patients who demanded she stop prescribing drugs to them

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...overdose-deaths-3-patients.html#ixzz3qBP47Ujq

Massive. Dirty Doctors are worse than all other dealers.

From last month:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/general-n...heights-doctor-convicted-of-3-overdose-deaths

Hsiu Ying “Lisa” Tseng, 46, of Walnut is the first doctor in the country to be convicted of murder by overprescribing drugs. She was scheduled to be sentenced Monday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles but it was rescheduled to Feb. 5...

A jury on Oct. 30 found Tseng guilty of the second degree murders of Vu Nguyen, 29, of Lake Forest, Steven Ogle, 25, of Palm Desert and Joseph Rovero III, 21, of San Ramon. Nguyen died March 2, 2009, Ogle on April 9, 2009 and Rovero III on Dec. 18, 2009...

Tseng, who was a doctor of osteopathic medicine, operated a clinic called Advanced Care AAA Medical in Rowland Heights with her husband... People found out about the doctor via word of mouth. “This was the place to go,” Niedermann said... She made about $5 million from late 2006 to August 2010, according to Niedermann.

Click to expand...

A Los Angeles-area doctor convicted of murder for prescribing exorbitant amounts of painkillers that left a dozen patients dead was sentenced Friday to 30 years to life in prison.

The conviction of Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng and her long prison sentence are rare for a doctor.

(...)

In handing down the harsh sentence, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli said he found it egregious that Tseng continued to write reckless prescriptions even after learning her patients were dying.

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http://bigstory.ap.org/589196abf72c4561a47d5ebf476f2c4b