Saving Hippocrates: The Supreme Court and the CDC Add to the Defense Arsenal

in Doctor-Prescribing Prosecutions

Doctors can breathe a partial sigh of relief after the decision in Ruan v. United States; the U.S. Supreme Court held that prosecutors must show more than mere negligence or malpractice to make a felon out of a physician. In addition, new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on opioid prescribing promises to make it much harder to prosecute – and easier to defend – doctors.