John Mitchell

Lehighvalleylive.com
Patient death led to charges Lehigh Valley doc overprescribed drugs for 15 years, AG says
By Sarah Cassi
May 24, 2022

— Excerpt

A Lehigh Valley woman’s death led prosecutors to a local doctor who overprescribed opioids and other drugs to patients over a 15-year period, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said.

John Mitchell, a psychiatrist who had offices in South Whitehall Township and Emmaus, was arrested Monday and charged with 13 counts, including unlawfully administering, dispensing or prescribing schedule II controlled substances.

Mitchell, 70, was released on $75,000 unsecured bail. Court papers list a Quakertown address for Mitchell, but his bail records list a Salisbury Township address…

The 10 patients, identified by initials and birthdays, were prescribed drugs from June 2003 through July 2018. The prescriptions included oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and Adderall.

In addition to high-dose prescriptions above FDA recommendations, Mitchell prescribed stimulants to drug dependent patients, did not use urine tests to monitor patients taking schedule II drugs, and failed to count pills, prosecutors said…