Kentucky doctor who admitted prescribing without adequate exams sentenced to prison

A Kentucky doctor who admitted prescribing drugs to an undercover officer with little or no examination has been sentenced to two years and eight months in federal prison.

Jason Noah Stamper, 52, who practiced in Pikeville, pleaded guilty to one charge of distributing amphetamine outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical reason.

Stamper was a 2001 graduate of the University of Pikeville School of Osteopathic medicine whose specialty was psychiatry, according to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.

According to his plea agreement in federal court, Stamper prescribed either Ritalin or Adderall to an undercover officer with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who posed as a patient on six visits between April and September 2022.

The drugs are used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but people often abuse the drugs as well.

Stamper did only cursory exams — blood-pressure and lung-sound checks — or no exam before writing prescriptions for the undercover officer, he acknowledged.

On the first visit, the officer asked for something to give him a “kick in the britches,” according to the plea.

Stamper didn’t inquire about any legitimate medical need for the drugs and took no action when the officer didn’t have blood work done as Stamper had directed, even after several visits, according to the plea agreement.

Police searched Stamper’s home in Coal Run Village in Pike County in December 2022.

They found a baggie with white residue consistent with methamphetamine; multiple baggies of a drug used to treat ADHD; and scales, pipes and baggies containing suspected drug residue, according to a citation in state court.

There was a syringe loaded with meth on a table beside Stamper’s bed, according to a court document.

Stamper’s attorney, Noah R. Friend, said in a sentencing memorandum that state authorities had audited Stamper’s practice from December 2018 and July 2020 — before the undercover investigation — and found no excessive or irregular prescribing.

Stamper “is not someone who has had a long history of flaunting the law, or of operating the sort of ‘pill mill’ facilities that have plagued Eastern Kentucky in recent decades,” Friend wrote.

However, Stamper struggled with a relapse into using meth, and was overwhelmed by taking over his grandfather’s medical practice, Friend said.

Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced Stamper Monday.