Feds Add Charge of Causing a Death to Indicted Bryn Mawr Doctor

A new charge of causing the death of a patient has been added to the federal indictment against a doctor with offices in Bryn Mawr and Roxborough.

Dr. Jeffrey Bado, 59, of Philadelphia, has been charged with distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death and 82 additional counts of distribution of controlled substances by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Bado, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, was first indicted on February 4 for the alleged illegal distribution of pain medications from his Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr medical offices.

The indictment also contains the original two counts of maintaining a drug-involved premises, 200 counts of illegally distributing oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, outside the usual course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose, 33 counts of health care fraud, and four counts of making false statements to federal agents.

According to court documents, Bado is accused of distributing pills containing oxycodone to a patient, idnetified as J.A.-1, on January 24, 2011, the use of which resulted in the patient’s death.

The indictment alleges that Bado had been writing prescriptions for J.A.-1 despite the fact that, when tested at Bado’s office, the victim tested positive for illegal street drugs.

Bado allegedly gave prescriptions for large numbers of oxycodone pills to patients who paid in cash for an “office visit” during which the “patient” would receive, at most, a cursory physical examination and little other medical care or treatment.

Investigators say that Bado’s prescribing mirrored the needs of drug addicts and drug traffickers.

“Bado would allegedly comply with patient requests for pills with specific concentrations of oxycodone, and Bado would allegedly switch patients to pills with a higher street value even though there was no medical justification for the switch,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Bado allegedly continued to prescribe high amounts of oxycodone even when he knew that his patients were addicted to oxycodone, were using illegal drugs, or were not even taking the oxycodone pills as prescribed.

If convicted of all charges, Bado faces a possible sentence of at least 24 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years up to life.