CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) - A Long Island doctor has been found guilty of illegally distributing oxycodone and causing the overdose deaths of two patients.
Dr. Michael Belfiore, of Westbury, was convicted by a jury on Wednesday. He faces a mandatory minimum sentenced of 20 years in prison.
The two patients, 33-year-old John Ubaghs and 43-year-old Edward Martin, died of overdoses in 2013.
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Federal prosecutors say Belfiore issued the prescriptions without legitimate medical need.
U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said the doctor “was acting not as a healer, but as a drug dealer with a prescription pad.”
At his indictment, Belfiore’s attorney, Thomas Liotti, told Newsday that his client did nothing wrong. He said case law has ruled that a doctor is not responsible for what a patient does with medication after leaving the physician’s office.
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