LOS ANGELES (AP) – A doctor convicted of murder for prescribing “crazy, outrageous amounts” of painkillers that left three patients dead could get life in prison at her sentencing scheduled for Friday.
Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng’s second-degree murder conviction in October is rare for a physician. It came after a dozen of her patients died during an epidemic of prescription drug abuse.
She was only charged with three killings because other factors were involved in some of those deaths, such as drugs prescribed by other doctors and one possible suicide.
Tseng, 45, was convicted of all but one of 21 drug-related counts in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
She was also charged with illegally writing prescriptions for two of the deceased patients and 16 other people, three of them undercover agents.
Tseng prescribed “crazy, outrageous amounts of medication” to patients who didn’t need the pills, Deputy District Attorney John Niedermann told jurors during her trial. The doctor repeatedly ignored warning signs even after several patients died.
“Something is wrong with what you’re doing if your patients are dying,” Niedermann said.
Tseng’s lawyer said her client naively trusted her patients. Defense lawyer Tracy Green said patients testified they were legitimately in pain and later became dependent on the drugs, hiding their addictions by seeing other doctors and picking up prescriptions from different pharmacies.
Vu Nguyen, 29, of Lake Forest, Steven Ogle, 25, of Palm Desert, and Joseph Rovero, 21, an Arizona State University student from San Ramon, died of overdoses between March and December 2009.
Tseng barely kept any records on the three men until she was contacted by the Medical Board of California, prosecutors said, then fabricated documents to make it look like she had kept thorough records.
Tseng also ignored pleas from family members of patients who demanded she stop prescribing them drugs, prosecutors said.