A former doctor convicted of several federal drug offenses tied to his pain clinic in Milford was sentenced to two decades in prison on Tuesday.
Patrick Titus did not address the judge before he was sentenced for 13 crimes including knowingly dispensing narcotics without a legitimate medical purpose as well as one charge for maintaining Lighthouse Internal Medicine, the practice he operated in Milford from 2005 to 2014, primarily as an outlet to sell drugs.
Prosecutors said the pain clinic was essentially a drug dealing operation. One of Titus’ former patients testified at Tuesday’s hearing, stating the doctor “willfully overprescribed” her with a long list of addictive medications that ultimately led to her addiction and the loss of family ties and her career.
IN DEPTH: Jury considers whether Milford doctor ignored opioid, patient danger in return for cash
The woman said Titus robbed patients of their “dignity” through his own greed.
“I hope you utilize these years to reflect on the destruction you’ve caused peoples’ lives,” the woman said in court.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Titus gave out dangerous prescriptions without rendering meaningful medical care while both ignoring warning signs of patient abuse and raking in cash from those patients.
His defense attorneys argued the Air Force veteran was acting in good faith to help people in pain.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, those attorneys stated that Titus suffers from a diagnosed cognitive disorder, arguing for leniency in his sentence. They noted that, unlike other criminally accused doctors, Titus was not accused of recruiting patients for sham prescriptions. In asking for a prison sentence closer to 10 years, they also argued that Titus believed he was handling patients’ medical care “professionally.”
Federal prosecutor Claire Sobczak said Titus groomed some of his victims from a young age, made some of his victim’s existing conditions worse and used his patients for cash and sex.
“He lived for years off the pain of other people,” Sobczak told the court.
Ultimately, the judge said he balanced the seriousness of Titus’ offenses with the fact the former doctor will no longer have a medical license and thus is unlikely to reoffend, and that this is his first criminal conviction in determining Titus’ two-decade sentence.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareon
