A doctor who was honored by the New York State Assembly in 2016 has been sentenced to two years behind bars for his role in a bribery scheme that had him pushing a fentanyl-based pain-relieving spray that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Todd Schlifstein and four other Manhattan doctors allegedly collected tens of thousands of dollars working for Insys Therapeutic's 'Speakers Bureau,' between the years of 2012 and 2016.
According to a story posted on nbcnewyork.com, the Speakers Bureau was intended to educate doctors about the usefulness of the fentanyl-based spray. But prosecutors say the talks were used to encourage doctors to prescribe large amounts of the spray.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood sentenced Dr. Todd Schlifstein to two years in prison after he changed his 2018 not guilty plea to guilty.
The other doctors included in the indictment are Gordon Freedman, Jeffery Goldstein, Dialecti Voudouris and Alexandru Bruducea.
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