Pain clinic head jailed for opioid diversion

The owner of a Detroit-area pain clinic has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for her role in a diversion scheme involving more than 500,000 pills of oxycodone and other drugs.

Shirley Douglas (70) of West Bloomfield, Michigan, was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in September.

Douglas admitted that – as the owner and operator of a pain clinic and a physical therapy clinic located in Southfield – she conspired with others to distribute “medically unnecessary controlled substances, including oxycodone, oxymorphone, alprazolam, hydrocodone and promethazine hydrochloride, through the selling of appointments with physicians at their pain clinics,” says the Department of Justice.

Douglas’ co-defendant Malik Fuqua pleaded guilty on November 13 and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 26.