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NEWARK
– A Camden-based physician has voluntarily
surrendered his New Jersey medical license
for indiscriminately prescribing controlled
dangerous substances (CDS) following an
investigation by the Division of Consumer
Affairs’ Enforcement Bureau, the Gloucester
City Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement
Administration’s Camden Office.
Dr.
Henry L. Morganstein, D.O., 71, practicing
medicine from his 1809 South Broadway office
in Camden, admitted to investigators that
he wrote voluminous and improper prescriptions
for Promethazine with Codeine, Xanax, Percocet
and other substances for various persons.
In addition, Morganstein consented to cease
and desist from the practice of medicine
and surgery, and surrendered his prescription-writing
registrations and prescription pad.
The
surrender of Morganstein’s medical
license, which is in effect a revocation,
comes on the heels of the arrests of two
of his medical clerks for fraudulently obtaining
unauthorized prescriptions. Lateesha Green,
27, of Westville, New Jersey and Ameera
Lawson, 27, of Camden, New Jersey were arrested
last week by the Gloucester City Police
for allegedly engaging in an organized drug
ring of obtaining Promethazine and Xanax
unlawfully. Their case is being prosecuted
by the Camden County Prosecutor’s
Office.
The
Board of Medical Examiners, which licenses
approximately 33,000 physicians practicing
in New Jersey, today reviewed and approved
Dr. Morganstein’s Consent Order.
“The
abuse of these prescriptions is a well-documented
problem and Dr. Morganstein, by his own
admission, prescribed large quantities of
these drugs unlawfully,” said Attorney
General Paula T. Dow.
“The
Division, in tandem with our law enforcement
partners, acted expeditiously to shut down
Dr. Morganstein’s one-stop drug shop,”
said Thomas R. Calcagni, Acting Director
of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “Simply
stated, his prolific and indiscriminate
prescribing practices put people’s
lives at risk and are an affront to the
values of his profession.”
Acting
Director Calcagni credited the Division
of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Enforcement,
as well as Detective Carl DePoder of the
Gloucester City Police Department and Division
Investigator Donna Walker of the DEA, for
their work in the ongoing investigation.
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