I was diagnosed as Bipolar (Manic Depression)while in Medical school in Syracuse by Dr William Rafuls at the age of 24 in 1982 and have performed successfully as a Pediatric Gastroenterologist and a Board certified Physician Nutrition Specialist for all ages since 1992. While I have suffered from depression over the years I only had two episodes of medication induced mania. The first was in 2011 secondary to Welbutrin. In January of 2018, I suffered whole body cramping with sciatica and back pain. I was swallowing aspirin and Alleve for pain relief which resulted in a bleeding stomach ulcer and hospitalization at Jersey shore Medical Center. I was transfused a pint of blood and discharged in pain. To treat the sciatica and back pain I was given steroid medications which precipitated mania. The mania lasted 7 months and included staying up at 3am and being unable to fall asleep. I was prescribed hydroxyzine for sleep and fell asleep while driving February 2018 and was in a car accident. During those manic months I had visited Dr Les Linet and was put on rispiridone which did not eliminate the mania. On July 17, 2018, two adult persons wishing to become patients in my medical nutrition practice (Mr Nelson and Mr Craig) came to my office at 3200 Sunset Ave, in Ocean NJ and asked for medications including adderal. alprazolam, ambien, and oxycontin. In my manic state I wrote out prescriptions for adderal, xanax and oxycontin. I did not check the physician controlled substance database and when they were denied a refill, I escorted them to 3 different pharmacies after office hours in an attempt to help them receive these medications. I clearly was not in my right state of mind as I have never written for any of these drugs in 33 years of medical practice-which can be verified by examining the physician prescribing database. At the last pharmacy at 4am, I realized after two prior rejections from pharmacies to fill the medication that I did not want to fill the oxycontin and tore up the script in the car in front of Mr Craig. Mr Craig would not leave my car after I did that because he wanted the oxycontin. I called 911 to escort him out of my car, however, the police separated us and elicited the story from each of us and then arrested all three of us. I was charged with attempt to distribute with possession to distribute a controlled substance. The plea agreement was for possession of and attempt to distribute as described above for oxycontin but it did not take into account my mental health condition. It also did not take into account that no oxycontin was actually distributed. It also didn't take into account that this was an isolated once in a lifetime mistake as a result of a physician induced (giving steroids to a bipolar person) manic episode. A forensic psychiatrist Dr Simring wrote a full report to the court after observing me in the manic state in July 2018 at Morristown Memorial Hospital where I went for psychiatric treatment after the arrest. He concluded that the steroids given for back pain clearly induced the manic episode which subsequently led to my one time behavior of writing inappropriate prescriptions.

As a result of the felony conviction, I have been unable to obtain employment and lost my global entry privilege and failed to get approved for Transportation security Pre check approval on 12/7/2024, I have permanently surrendered my drug enforcement agency license, my controlled drug license number, my New York and Pennsylvania licenses to practice medicine and am no longer able to write for controlled substances or any drugs for that matter. My NJ license has been suspended since 2018 and I have no intention of practicing medicine. I surrendered all prescription pads and notified all patients that my practice is permanently closed. I will not be applying for reinstatement of my medical license in New Jersey or CDS or federal DEA. I am remorseful for what happened and have served my sentence.