Northern Westchester Doctor Admits To Illegally Distributing Fentanyl Resulting In Fatal OD

A doctor who resides in Northern Westchester has admitted to illegally distribution fentanyl, resulting in a fatal overdose in 2017, federal authorities announced.

2 milligrams of fentanyl, a lethal dose for most people.
Photo Credit: *United States Drug Enforcement Administration*

Joe Lombardi

12/20/2019 11:45 a.m.

The guilty plea comes less than two weeks after Dr. Gordon Freedman, 59, of Mount Kisco was convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a pharmaceutical company to push medically unneeded fentanyl in a separate case.

"It seems clear Gordon Freedman was more concerned with his own wealth than his patients’ health," United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman said.

The charge, one count of distributing oxycodone and fentanyl, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Freedman is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18, 2020.

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment against Freedman and filings in related proceedings:

From or about 2013 through in or about May 2017, Freedman, who worked at and owned a private pain-management office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and was an associate clinical professor at a large hospital in Manhattan, prescribed numerous controlled substances to a particular patient, including enormous quantities of oxycodone and fentanyl.
For example, in 2013 alone, Freedman prescribed the patient approximately 85,427 oxycodone pills – an average of approximately 234 oxycodone pills per day – containing a total of approximately 2,422,435 mg of oxycodone.
On or about April 13, 2017, Freedman gave the patient prescriptions for approximately 150 doses of a drug containing fentanyl, and for approximately 950 oxycodone pills containing approximately 30 mg of oxycodone per pill.
On or about May 4, 2017, the patient died of a fentanyl overdose after ingesting a quantity of the drug prescribed by Freedman on or about April 13, 2017.

In the earlier and separate case, Freedman was convicted on Friday, Dec. 5, on charges of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, and conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud.

In connection with that case, he is scheduled to appear for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood on March 19, 2020.

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