Kentucky suspends license of doctor who had a patient overdose in his waiting room

A state board has suspended the Kentucky medical license of a doctor convicted of health fraud and improperly distributing pain pills.

Dr. Samson K. Orusa of Clarksville, Tenn., had applied in March to renew his Kentucky license, but the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure issued an emergency suspension order against him effective Oct. 23.

Orusa said in a letter with his application that he was innocent and anticipated being acquitted on more than 40 charges against him.

However, a jury in Tennessee convicted him of illegally distributing opioid pain pills; health care fraud; money laundering; and maintaining a medical practice for the purpose of prescribing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose.

Orusa was convicted of prescribing painkillers and other drugs without doing proper examinations. He allegedly prescribed drugs to people even though tests showed they didn’t have those substances in their system, a sign that they were selling the drugs.

One patient died of an overdose after Orusa prescribed him a cocktail of several drugs, and another overdosed on heroin in Orusa’s waiting room, the indictment against him charged.

The same day the state of Tennessee revoked his pain-management certificate, Orusa allegedly wrote 164 individual prescriptions for 12,754 pills.

He also billed Medicare for services to 57 patients in one day even though he was at the clinic less than six hours, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Jurors decided that Orusa, who also was the pastor at a church, was subject to forfeiting a 2017 Mercedes Benz and financial accounts with a total value of $918,000 to the government.

Orusa was initially licensed in Kentucky in 1997.