A former UPMC radiologist convicted of writing illegal painkiller prescriptions for himself and another pill-addicted UPMC doctor could be getting out of prison early because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Omar Almusa was convicted in the scheme with Marios Papachristou, another radiologist, and sentenced in May 2019 to two years in prison.
Like many other federal defendants in recent weeks, he has been trying to get out by citing the virus.
U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab on Friday denied his request for a reduced sentence on those grounds, but he did grant a motion to recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that it consider his participation in a drug abuse program in calculating his time served.
The BOP has been processing prisoners for compassionate release who have served half of their sentence, but the system does not take into account time in the drug program. If that time is considered, Almusa will have served half of his sentence by next month and could be released.
Almusa and his lawyer argued that he should go free because he has Crohn's disease. But the federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., where he is housed, indicated that none of the 73 prisoners in his unit have COVID-19. The U.S. attorney's office objected to the release, saying Almusa's medical condition does not rise to the level of "extraordinary and compelling” reasons to let someone go.
Judge Schwab agreed.
But prosecutors did not object to the judge recommending that the BOP consider the drug treatment program so as to recalculate Almusa's time. The judge also noted that the U.S. probation office has indicated that Almusa has a secure home to live in and is at low risk for repeating his crimes.
The judge said the Almusa case is unique and ruled that he will encourage the BOP to "promptly assess" his prospects for release.
Almusa and Papachristou were indicted following an investigation by a U.S. attorney's office team established to pursue doctors who dole out pain pills. The unit has prosecuted more medical professionals than any other prosecutor's office in the U.S.
Almusa admitted that he wrote prescriptions for Vicodin in the name of Papachristou's wife, Sara. He and Papachristou then split the pills between them for personal use.
Almusa later wrote other scripts for Sara, who split the pills with her husband.
In exchange, Papachristou wrote scripts for a relative of Almusa's and a friend, both of whom provided them to Almusa for his use.
The two doctors and Sara Papachristou filled the prescriptions at a pharmacy and UPMC Health Plan paid for them.
At Papachristou's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Cessar said both doctors knew they were addicts, but neither reported the other for writing illegal scripts. He said Western Pennsylvania has been "ground zero" for the opioid crisis and that bad doctors have been a major part of the problem.
"Physicians," he said, "cannot police themselves."
First Published: April 17, 2020, 1:55 p.m.
