Kennebunk doctor will not serve prison time for overprescribing opioids

Yahoo

16-05-2025

May 15—A Kennebunk doctor and well-known addiction medicine specialist in Kennebunk will not serve any prison time after she was found guilty last summer of writing illegal prescriptions to five patients.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Dr. Merideth Norris, 54, on Thursday to three years of probation and 600 hours of community service, generating applause from a courtroom full of friends, family, former patients and colleagues who turned out by the dozens to support her.
Norris was the first person arrested in 2022 by a New England task force focused on prescribers and was convicted last June on 15 counts of unauthorized prescribing of a controlled substance. Those prescriptions included high dosages of opioids, sometimes dangerously combined with benzodiazepines, another controlled substance.
In her remarks to the judge before sentencing, Norris asked for a lenient sentence that would "leave my family intact and (let me) serve my community the best way I can."
The judge said she felt the publicity and professional consequences Norris has suffered in the last three years has been enough.
"You have now been convicted of 15 federal felonies, you are a convicted felon. And the biggest punishment to you is that you lost the ability to do what you love to do most," Torresen said.
At trial, prosecutors repeatedly noted that Norris had been warned by pharmacists, had the highest opioid prescribing rate in the state and put her patients' lives at stake. Torresen said Thursday that's partly because Norris was "one of the only available doctors willing" to take on patients with complicated medical histories of chronic pain and addiction."
"To highlight the number of prescriptions that made it to court, and then the totality of her practice — I mean, 15 bad prescriptions?" Amy Fairfield, one of Norris' attorneys, said after the hearing.
"It does feel like cherry-picking by the government," co-counsel Timothy Zerillo chimed in.
Norris had more than 400 patients, many whom other doctors had turned away. Some weren't easy to work with, she told the judge, but they still deserve a doctor.
"There is no roadmap," she said. "Sometimes the most important thing I did for my patients was not medical care, but treating them with respect and dignity."
UNLIKE ANY OTHER DRUG CASE
A line of people hoping to attend the hearing extended outside the front door of the U.S. District Courthouse in Portland before the hearing began at 9 a.m. The courtroom was packed with Norris' supporters and an overflow room was opened for others to watch the proceeding via video.
Torresen allowed a dozen of them to testify to Norris' character before speaking at length herself about the complexities of addiction and how it intersects with the American judicial system.
Prosecutors sat quietly as they described Norris' work as a doctor, her life as a mother of three and all of the volunteer work she does with at-risk youth, the homeless community and her church.
"She's not before the court because she's accused of being a bad person," Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sakowski said; it's because Norris "lacked respect for known medical standards" and placed her patients at risk 15 times, ignoring federal and state guidelines, alerts from insurers, a nationwide block by Walmart and tips that a patient was diverting medication.
Sakowski told the judge the "nature and circumstances of this case are serious" and requested that Norris spend 16 months in prison. She declined to discuss Norris' sentence after the hearing.
Torresen said she has overseen trials and sentencing for hundreds of people charged with dealing drugs and using them. Unlike those cases, she said, there was "not a shred of evidence that (Norris) got anything from issuing these prescriptions."
CONTROVERSIAL INVESTIGATION
Norris oversaw two methadone clinics before her arrest and was previously president of the Maine Osteopathic Association. She has since closed her practice, Graceful Recovery. Although she retains her osteopathic license, she cannot prescribe controlled substances.
When federal agents descended on her office in October 2022, seizing dozens of patient records and arresting Norris, she had just been cleared by the Maine Board of Osteopathic Licensure of the same allegations.
An FBI investigator said in February 2024 that he hadn't been aware of the dismissal and that he didn't believe it would have affected the FBI investigation. Although Torresen allowed the case to move forward, the judge remarked at the time that she felt the case had been assembled unusually fast.
The government's case against Norris focused on five patients who she wrote prescriptions for without a legitimate medical purpose, putting them at risk of overdose.
The investigation was controversial — both in and out of court — given her prominent work in advocating for Mainers struggling with substance use disorder and her outspokenness against prescribing restrictions. Even after her felony convictions, she has continued to testify against bills in the Maine Legislature that would further criminalize substance use.
Jessica Mosey, who studied under Norris during her first year of medical school, said the doctor taught her how to treat "the whole patient, not just the disease."
"Dr. Norris understood that life is messy," Mosey said. "Now that' I'm in my own clinical practice, I can see how difficult it is to make the time and actually see people this wholly."
Mike Hope, a nurse who has worked with Norris, said he was concerned about the effect her case will have on other doctors treating vulnerable populations.
"Doctors play a crucial role in saving lives, often in ways that may not align with our expectations," Hope said, noting a "clash with rapidly changing laws" that pressure physicians into reducing or stopping care for complicated patients.
Norris said in a written statement that she was "grateful for the court's careful consideration in this case and for the massive amount of support I have received from my family and the community."
She has 14 days to appeal the sentence. Her lawyers declined to comment on their plans.
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