South Carolina Doctor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Prescribing Opioids in Alleged ‘Sex for Scripts’ Arrangement

Rodriguez, 50, of Florence, pled guilty on Aug. 19 in U.S. District Court to one count of distributing the drug without a legitimate medical purpose, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina reported in a press release. U.S. District Judge Joseph Dawson III will sentence Rodriguez after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report from the U.S. Probation Office.

The disgraced doctor faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $1 million, and three years of supervision after release from prison. He also surrendered his state and federal prescribing privileges. Rodriguez had been facing 15 charges of describing the drug “outside the scope of medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose” under a Dec. 27, 2022 indictment.

Under a plea agreement dated Aug. 14, he pled guilty to one charge, and prosecutors will dismiss the other 14 at sentencing if he abides by all conditions.

Rodriguez graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 2000 with specialties in Family Medicine and U.S. Air Force Medicine, according to disciplinary hearing records of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners. He completed his residency in family medicine at McLeod Family Medicine and received his South Carolina medical license in November 2002. He served as a physician in the U.S. Air Force, including one tour of duty in Iraq, where he received the Air Force Commendation Medal.

What Happened?

Prosecutors said Rodriguez prescribed Oxycodone to a female patient 15 times between May 2018 and January 2019, including 10 times after he was advised by a pharmacist that the drug could not be taken with another prescription she had.

The woman had been a patient in 2013-2014 but had not been seen by him again until 2018 when she presented for treatment of pain. Rodriguez asked no questions about her current medical history or if she was taking any controlled substances “despite clear indicators she was using illicit drugs,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

In fact, prosecutors said that during that entire span of treatment, he never asked her for a pain rating, conducted a drug test, sent her for imaging, referred her to a pain specialist, discussed alternative pain treatment, or attempted to wean her off Oxycodone even though it was ineffective in controlling her pain.

He kept only basic records for the patient with no details about why she was being seen and what treatment she was receiving. The necessary details were not added to the records until several months later and only after repeated legal requests for the records.

Touching and Prescribing

In that first appointment, the patient asked for an Oxycodone prescription. Rodriguez “touched the patient … in (a) manner not consistent with any medical examination” and wrote her a prescription for the drug “at a very high dosage,” the press release noted.

In the following months, Rodriguez communicated with the woman via Snapchat, sending her nude pictures. The patient believed this to be a “sex for scripts” trade, where Rodriguez would write her prescriptions for Oxycodone if she engaged in sexual acts with him.

In the summer of 2018, the woman began a substance abuse treatment program with another provider and was prescribed Suboxone to aid in breaking her opioid addiction. A person should not take other opioids, including Oxycodone, while on Suboxone due to possible severe interactions, including severe drowsiness, decreased awareness, breathing problems, coma, and death.

Despite this, Rodriguez prescribed Oxycodone. However, the pharmacist filling the script realized the dangerous interaction and called Rodriguez to tell him he couldn’t fill that order, the press release continued. Rodriguez responded by sending the prescription to another pharmacy. It was filled nine more times after that, despite the threat to the patient.

In the fall of 2018, the woman filmed two of her appointments with Rodriguez, showing him entering the exam room, hugging and kissing her, and “fondling the patient, not in a manner related to any medical exam.” During one of these exams, the woman performed a sex act on the doctor and was “rewarded” afterward with another prescription for Oxycodone.

Very Good or Very Bad

Based on an online physician review site, Rodriguez was either loved or hated by his patients. The Vitals website, with the last reviews in early 2020, notes Rodriguez practiced in Lake City and Florence with a specialty in family medicine and was affiliated with Lake City Community Hospital.

His average rating was four stars out of five. A sample of those comments (spelling and grammar corrected) includes:

Jan. 27, 2020, 1 star – “I take care of my 88-year-old mom and have to the doctor’s nurse twice and asked them not to prescribe her opioid pain meds because it makes her very incompetent as far as everyday function. She is addicted. I had her off of them and she was taking ibuprofen and doing good. She called Dr. Rodriguez and he called her in Oxy. There are other pain meds, but she wanted these and all she had to do was make a call. So upset. She has an 84-year-old husband to take care of but cannot function when she walks around like a zombie, thanks to good old Dr. Rodriguez.”

Feb. 18, 2020, five stars – “Dr. Rodriguez is a blessing to have for a doctor. Unfortunately it is his secretary that is rude and racist. This is not the only complaint regarding his staff. I only hope that other patients of his have not had to go through the abuse I have witnessed by his staff. Dr. Rodriguez is a good Christian doctor and has earned the right to a good office staff. Unfortunately, due to the abuse by his secretaries, I chose to leave his practice.”

Sept. 24, 2019, one star – “Sorry excuse for a doctor. Prescription indicates “as needed” and suddenly refuses to see patient being treated for diabetes and blood pressure because that medication is not in blood. It is, however, in the bottle to use as needed. Sham doctor to refuse a patient for using medication as it was prescribed. Shame on you Rodriguez

December 19, 2018, five stars – “Dr. Rodriguez is an excellent doctor. I’ve been his patient 15 years and I have no complaints with him or his staff, but he sure needs to invest in another receptionist because she is very rude. She wants respect but don’t want to give respect.”

Not the First Time

This was not the first time Rodriguez’s prescription pen landed him in legal trouble. In May 2014, the doctor, then 39, was arrested and charged with nine counts of unlawfully distributing narcotics and pre-signing prescription forms so staff could issue prescriptions for patients when he was out of the office, WPDE-TV reported. Those crimes allegedly occurred between December 2013 and January 2014 and were investigated by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The matter did not go through the criminal courts, but did land Rodriguez before the state’s Board of Medical Examiners on Aug. 5, 2014. A review of those records by The Daily Muck found that Rodriguez admitted to the improprieties and received a public reprimand, fined $1,000, ordered to pay $240 for the cost of the investigation and prohibited from prescribing Schedule II drugs for two years.

The board noted in its order that sanctions are “designed not to punish the physician, but to protect the life, health, and welfare of the people at large.”

After those penalties expired in late 2016, Rodriguez once again ran afoul of the state’s prescription laws and faced the Board of Medical Examiners in November 2021. This investigation began in December 2018 and involved allegations of ignoring abnormal test results, not informing patients of test results, and disregarding pharmacists’ complaints that he was prescribing drugs to patients who were receiving other controlled substances from other providers. Rodriguez denied all of the allegations.

In April 2020, an expert review of that case concluded Rodriguez “failed to meet the minimum standard of care for 15 of the 19 patient files reviewed” and “failed to establish an appropriate physician-patient relationship” in many cases. The investigator also concluded this inappropriate treatment “did not contribute to any negative outcome” for the 19 patients involved.

That review also found that Rodriguez’s recordkeeping “did not meet the standard of care required by the profession.”

Despite being a “repeat offender,” Rodriguez was allowed to retain his medical license upon condition that he complete several training courses. Additionally, he was prohibited from prescribing Schedule II drugs for one year and given another public reprimand.

This incident is apparently referenced in a May 18, 2023 review on the Healthgrades.com physician rating site.

“His practice has shut down,” the reviewer said. “The staff, let’s be honest here, they were always rude. I loved Dr. Rod, but the rest I coulda done without. Moving on, we’ve been trying to get in with Dr. Rod to no avail. Come to find out his practice has been shut down due to the indictment of 15 counts of selling drugs containing Oxycodone without a medical reason. So he’s done it again (emphasis added). Shame on him. He had hundreds of older patients that depended on him. Including my mother!! He’d rather break the law than stay above it. Hope a couple extra thousand dollars was worth your integrity, character, family and business. What a waste.”