West Bloomfield doctor admits he funneled opioids to prisoner — but feds say he did more
Dr. Scott Cooper admits he begrudgingly treated low-income drug addicts, but only because his employer required him to.
He referred to them as "problem patients" in a deal he cut with the government, which says Cooper used his job as a healer to harm many, including a person who died after overdosing on drugs that Cooper had prescribed him and a prisoner who got pills on the inside.
In the end, it would be the prison scheme that would cost the West Bloomfield doctor his freedom.
In U.S. District Court this week, Cooper, 61, pleaded guilty to helping funnel more than 7,000 oxycodone pills to a prisoner over a period of two years. Cooper would write the prescriptions, and the prisoner's mother would pick them up at the front desk, with the pain pills eventually making their way inside the prison.
20,000 improper prescriptions, 800,000 pills
The government says Cooper was helping feed America's drug addiction for years by writing more than 20,000 medically unnecessary prescriptions for more than 800,000 pills with a street value of more than $5.5 million. According to court records, Cooper committed these crimes while working as a primary care physician at a medical clinic called Comprehensive Medical Associates in West Bloomfield in 2013-18.
Cooper's lawyer, Mark Kriger, declined to comment on his client's guilty plea agreement, which stated the following:
"Dr. Cooper admitted in an interview with the DEA that his controlled substance patients were problem patients, he did not want to see them, and in fact he did not see them every 90 days as he should have, but continued to prescribe their controlled substances."
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The government says Cooper's victims were many, including a patient who died after overdosing on methadone prescribed by Cooper. The man's death was not cited in the plea agreement, but it was included in the indictment, which said that Cooper wrote the patient a prescription for 478 methadone 10 mg pills on June 17, 2015.
Within 24 hours, tragedy would strike.
"The patient died of a methadone overdose in the early morning hours of June 18, 2015," the Justice Department stated.
Cooper's plea agreement mentions that he "prescribed dangerously high dosages of methadone to a patient who was detoxified after he was incarcerated." But it does not mention that person dying, or the identity of that patient.
Doctor prescribed a full medicine chest of drugs
"(Cooper) ignored warning signs that his patients were addicted or selling the drugs, and frequently failed to take commonly accepted steps, such as requiring drug screens," the indictment states.
Cooper admitted to that in his plea deal, as well as to many other missteps, including:
He prescribed dangerous combinations of drugs, including a sought-after combo known on the street as the "holy trinity," which is oxycodone, Xanax and Soma. That's a pain killer, antianxiety med and muscle relaxer mixed together.
A portion of Cooper's practice involved patients who sought highly abused and valuable prescription drugs, including oxycodone, Xanax and Adderall. Cooper's employer required him to see low-income patients who relied on Medicaid for insurance coverage, though Cooper "admitted that his controlled substance patients were problem patients, he did not want to see them."
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“Dr. Cooper’s actions were reckless and criminal. This type of negligence by medical personnel is what fuels addiction," said Orville Greene, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Detroit division.
Under the terms of Cooper's plea agreement, he faces a mandatory 44 months in prison — though the judge may give him up to 87 months. Cooper's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24 before U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Cooper has not been able to prescribe any medications since 2020 due to his bond conditions.
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: West Bloomfield doctor admits he funneled opioids to prisoner
