Bucher, 60, is accused of selling more than 700 Oxycodone pills and other drugs to Patterson. He is charged with seven counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs and two courts of trafficking in drugs. If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 22 years in prison.
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Defense attorney Chris Pagan told the jury during opening statements that there is no evidence Bucher received anything in return for prescribing the medication, be it money, gifts or sex.
“The most important thing will be Dr. Bucher’s purpose in this task. If he had a purpose for what he did, he is not guilty,” Pagan said, adding Bucher saw employee Crystal Patterson in pain, and in good faith, treated her for that pain.
Pagan also said Patterson had a secret — that she had previously been treated for abuse of pain medication.
Bucher did not assess Patterson’s pain level or medical history when writing eight prescriptions from August 2015 to December 2015 after she said she had back and hip pain from her menstrual cycle, Assistant Butler County Prosecutor David Kash said.
Bucher, who has practiced medicine for 34 years, also did not keep record of the controlled substances he prescribed, according to Kash.
“Dr. Bucher admitted to a detective (from the Ohio Medical Board) that he didn’t maintain a chart or records of prescriptions written,” Kash said to the jury. “The law will tell you what a doctor is required to do to write prescriptions for controlled substances. None of which he did, which is illegal.”
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Patterson was the prosecution’s first witness Tuesday and testified she began working at Ohio Family Practice in October 2014. She was assigned to Bucher’s office as an employee of Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, performing toxicology screenings on patients who were prescribed controlled substances.
When she told Bucher about pain in her hips and back, he wrote her a prescription for hydrocodone and others later for oxycodone and alprazolam.
“I asked him if there was anything he could give me for the pain,” Patterson said.
The doctor complied without asking any questions about medical history or monitoring her intake, she testified.
“I was taking them more frequently than I should have and I ran out,” Patterson said, adding that she then turned to heroin.
Patterson testified that she received treatment for an addiction to pain medication before working at Bucher’s office. She said Bucher did not have her tested or monitor the pill usage of her prescriptions.
During cross examination, Patterson admitted she kept her drug abuse a secret from everyone.
Bucher has a family medicine practice at Oxford Family Medicine and is affiliated with McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital-TriHealth as well as other area hospitals.
His trial continues Wednesday with witnesses from the medical field. Bucher is expected to testify later in the week when the defense presents its case.
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