(Cedar Rapids, IA) -- A Cedar Rapids doctor has been ordered to pay $100,000 to settle allegations he prescribed opioid medications to patients who did not need them. Dr. Paul Lottes, a family medicine physician was accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act from August 2017 to April 2019.
Dr. Lottes has also agreed not to reapply for a controlled substances registration with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) for a period of three years. Without the DEA registration, Dr. Lottes will not be able to prescribe controlled substances during this time.
“Overprescribing is a major factor in the devastating opioid epidemic facing our country,” said U.S. Attorney Peter E. Deegan. “As this settlement demonstrates, our office is committed to using all available tools to fight this epidemic, including civil prosecution under the Controlled Substances Act.”
“Doctors who prescribe controlled substances outside the bounds of professional practice betray their oaths as practitioners and also fail the patients who trust them for care,” DEA Omaha Division Diversion Program Manager Sarah Boblenz said. “DEA and its partners at the federal, state and local level will continue to investigate all practitioners who cause harm to the public and fuel the opioid epidemic.”
The case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Carrington and investigated by the State of Iowa’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the DEA.
(Photo from Getty Imagess)