A Beckley-based nephrologist indicted Tuesday on multiple drug charges by a federal grand jury had more than 9,000 Medicare Part D prescriptions filled in 2013.
Dr. Jose Jorge Abbud Gordinho, who was arrested Nov. 12, faces a 21-count indictment alleging he conspired to distribute prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone, for illegitimate purposes.
According to a news release from U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin's office, Gordinho faces "multiple counts of distribution of oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone and morphine not for legitimate medical purposes in the usual course of medical practice and beyond the bounds of medical practice, as well as two counts of distributing controlled substances not within Gordinho's capacity as a medical doctor."
Among state nephrologists - doctors who specialize in kidney care - Gordinho wrote the sixth-most hydrocodone-acetaminophen Medicare Part D prescriptions, including refills, in 2013. That year, Gordinho handed out 1,577 hydrocodone prescriptions, according to ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization that tracks doctors and drugs in the United States.
During the same year, West Virginia doctors wrote more than 426,000 prescriptions, including refills, for hydrocodone-acetaminophen, which is used to relieve moderate to severe pain, making it the most prescribed drug to the state's Medicare Part D patients.
Among nephrologists in West Virginia, the 9,071 prescriptions Gordinho wrote in 2013 was only topped by Vienna-based Mirza Hamirani, who penned 9,136 prescriptions, according to ProPublica's Prescriber Checkup database.
Gordinho also wrote almost 2,000 oxycodone prescriptions to Medicare patients in 2013.
According to the West Virginia Board of Medicine, Gordinho is a 1977 graduate of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara and did his post-graduate training at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1987.
Gordinho obtained his West Virginia license in 1989, and is also licensed to practice in Virginia and New Jersey.
In 2003, the West Virginia medical board reprimanded him for "certain answers given by Dr. Gordinho on his license renewal form for the period of July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2002." The board has taken no other actions against him.
In June 1999, the Virginia Board of Medicine issued a notice to Gordinho saying the board was looking into allegations that he may have violated several laws in the treatment of seven patients at a hospital in Low Moor, Virginia. Following a six-month review, the board exonerated Gordinho and dismissed the matter with no action taken against him. The issue was the only one on file in the Virginia Board of Medicine's records on Gordinho.
The New Jersey medical board has no history of discipline against the doctor.
The doctor has been held in the Southern Regional Jail since his arrest and could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine for each of the counts included in the indictment.
Gordinho is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 30 in federal court in Beckley.
Reach Joel Ebert at joel.ebert@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @joelebert29 on Twitter.
