A Craig doctor convicted in U.S. District Court of prescribing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose, which led to death of a patient, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Dr. Joel Miller also was sentenced Friday to three years of supervised release after his prison term is served, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney, District of Colorado.
Miller also was ordered, by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn, to “not practice medicine without a license or prescribe controlled substances without a DEA registration.”
Arrested in August 2013, following a 34-count federal indictment, Miller was the owner and operator of High Country Medical between 2008 and 2010.
He was in November 2015 on six counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose, one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance without a legitimate medical purpose resulting in death, and one count of providing false information on his Drug Enforcement Administration registration application.
Earlier in May, the most severe charge against him because of a missing word in a charging document. He would have been the first Colorado doctor to receive a prison sentence for causing the death of a patient, but a federal judge granted a motion for acquittal on that charge because the word fentanyl was missing in the charging document.
Miller faced a maximum 20-year sentence.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or @kierannicholson
