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Fla. Doctor Gets Life in Prison for Drug Deaths
September 7, 2004

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News Summary

Freddie Williams, 54, a doctor who practiced in Florida's Panhandle, has received a life term in prison for prescribing oxycodone to two patients who later died of overdoses, the Associated Press reported Sept. 3.

U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers held Williams responsible for the 2002 death of Brian Sanders and the 2000 death of Bonnie Ramos. The doctor was charged with illegally prescribing and dispensing medications.

In addition to the prison sentence, Rodgers ordered Williams to pay $2 million in restitution to medical insurance providers and a wholesale pharmaceutical distributor.

Williams said he was innocent, blaming the problem on patients who lied to him or wrote fake prescriptions.

"I prescribed narcotics in good faith and for legitimate medical purposes," Williams said.

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