Pain clinic CEO faced 20 years for making patients ‘human pin cushions.’ He got 18 months

By Brett Kelman KFF Robustness News NASHVILLE Tenn Federal prosecutors sought a maximum prison sentence of nearly years for the CEO of Pain MD a company exposed to have given hundreds of thousands of questionable injections to patients various reliant on opioids It would have been among the longest sentences for a healthcare care executive convicted of fraud in latest years Instead he got months Michael Kestner who was convicted of fraud felonies last year faced at least a decade behind bars based on federal sentencing guidelines He was granted the substantially lightened sentence due to his age and wellbeing Wednesday during a federal court hearing in Nashville U S District Judge Aleta Trauger described Kestner as a ruthless businessman who funded a lavish lifestyle by turning diagnostic professionals into puppets who pressured patients into injections that did not help their pain and sometimes made it worse In the court s eyes he knew it was wrong and he didn t really care if it was doing anyone any good Trauger revealed But Trauger also stated she was swayed by defense arguments that Kestner would struggle in federal prison due to his age and healthcare conditions including the blood disorder hemochromatosis Trauger declared she had concerns about prison robustness care after considering about requests for compassionate release in other court cases The anatomical care at these facilities defense attorney Peter Strianse noted has consistently been dodgy and suspect Kestner did not speak at the court hearing other than to detail his healthcare conditions He did not respond to questions as he left the courthouse Pain MD CEO Michael Kestner leaves a federal courthouse in Nashville Tennessee followed by one of his lawyers after being sentenced to months in federal prison on May Brett Kelman KFF Physical condition News KFF Vitality News TNS Pain MD ran as various as clinics in Tennessee Virginia and North Carolina throughout much of the s While countless doctors were scaling back their use of prescription painkillers due to the opioid emergency Pain MD paired opioids with monthly injections into patients backs claiming the shots could ease pain and potentially lessen reliance on pills according to federal court documents During Kestner s October trial the Department of Justice proved that the injections were part of a decade-long scheme that defrauded Medicare and other insurance programs of millions of dollars by capitalizing on patients dependence on opioids The DOJ successfully argued at trial that Pain MD s unnecessary and expensive injections were largely ineffective because they targeted the wrong body part contained short-lived numbing medications but no steroids and appeared to be based on test shots given to cadavers people who felt neither pain nor relief because they were dead During closing arguments the DOJ argued Pain MD had turned chosen patients into human pin cushions They were leaned over a table and repeatedly injected in their spine federal prosecutor Katherine Payerle mentioned during the May sentencing hearing Over and over month after month at the direction of Mr Kestner Related Articles FDA OKs first blood test that can help diagnose Alzheimer s ailment Massachusetts nurse brain tumor cluster Newton-Wellesley Hospital confirms another self-reported event Gene editing helped a desperately ill baby thrive Scientists say it could someday treat millions It s rare and it s scary Dark spot on your fingernail could mean cancer DeSantis signs a bill making Florida the nd state to ban fluoride from its water system At last year s trial viewers testified that Kestner was the driving force behind the injections which amounted to roughly shots over about eight years with selected patients receiving up to at once Four former patients testified that they tolerated the shots out of fear that Pain MD otherwise would have cut off their painkiller prescriptions without which they might have spiraled into withdrawal One of those patients Michelle Shaw recounted KFF Medical News that the injections sometimes left her in so much pain she had to use a wheelchair She was outraged by Kestner s sentence I m disgusted that all they got was a slap on the wrist as far as I m concerned Shaw announced May I hope karma comes back to him That he suffers to his last breath KFF Wellbeing News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC