A Clinton County doctor will serve prison time for over-prescribing pain and anti- anxiety drugs. A federal judge has sentenced Dr. Michael Cummings of Albany to two-and-a-half years behind bars.
The investigation in Cummings began in 2015 after the Clinton County coroner noticed several overdose deaths involving Cummings’ patients. The probe discovered that patients drove from as far as Indianapolis to obtain prescriptions from the long-time family practitioner.
Between 2009 and 2014, Cummings was in the top one percent of all primary care providers in Kentucky for prescribing pain killers and anti-anxiety drugs. According to a sentencing memo, Cummings in 2012 alone, wrote enough prescriptions for every man, woman, and child in Albany with 230 Hydrocodone pills, 134 Oxycodone tablets, and 178 benzodiazepines. The 64-year-old Cummings pleaded guilty to 13 counts of illegally prescribing controlled substances outside the course of professional medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. In addition to his 30-month prison term, Cummings was ordered to pay a $400,000 fine.
