'Unfathomable': How 1.6 million pills from a small-town doctor helped fuel the opioid crisis in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Margaret Temponeras started her medical career in a small town as a family doctor. She ended it a felon, a rogue physician who authorities say fanned Ohio’s opioid epidemic with a prescription pad.

From 2006 through 2012, Temponeras ordered more than 1.6 million pills of hydrocodone and oxycodone from her offices in the tiny town of Wheelersburg, along the banks of the Ohio River.

That was more than any other medical practitioner in the state and more than some pharmacies. The drug distributor that supplied her kept shipping pills, despite her ever-increasing orders.

Eight of her patients died in her care, federal records allege. One was Ira Marsh, a 38-year-old laborer, who saw her over a three-year period during which she treated him for a back issue. Then, on Oct. 28, 2009, Temponeras prescribed him the opioid oxycodone, the muscle relaxer carisoprodol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, according to federal court filings.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/09/unfathomable-how-16-million-pills-from-a-small-town-doctor-helped-fuel-the-opioid-crisis-in-ohio.html