An Upper East Side doctor has been slapped with new charges for prescribing unnecessary oxycodone and fentayl to a Staten Island man — who fatally overdosed on the same drugs just days later.
Dr. Martin Tesher now faces up to life in prison if
to Nicholas Benedetto, who died in March 2016 after ingesting a fatal combination of the drugs.
The 81-year-old accused pill-pusher has been previously charged for prescribing thousands of oxycodone pills to patients with no medical need for the drugs, authorities said.
“Instead of providing his opioid addicted patients with medically appropriate and lawful care, Dr. Tesher quite literally fed their addiction, and, in this case, his actions resulted in the death of a patient,” Acting United States Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement.
Tesher operates a family practice in Manhattan, where he had been authorized by the DEA to treat some 30 people suffering from drug addiction by prescribing approved narcotics to ease their battles with drugs.
