Encino doctor charged with unlawful prescribing
An Encino physician was charged Thursday with prescribing narcotic painkillers and other potent drugs to patients who had no legitimate need for the medications, prosecutors said.
Yahya Hedvat, 68, was arrested at his Ventura Boulevard clinic, Encino Medical Urgent Care, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Calls to Hedvat’s clinic Thursday afternoon were not returned.
Hedvat, who specializes in internal medicine, faces eight felony counts of unlawfully prescribing a controlled bustance, including hydrocodone, clonazepam and suboxone, according to a felony complaint for arrest warrant.
Hedvat allegedly prescribed to patients, including undercover agents with the California Medical Board, without conducting proper examinations in August 2012 and numerous times in 2013, according to the complaint.
Hedvat is expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday. Prosecutors will ask that his bail be set at $80,000, according to the district attorney’s office.
If convicted on all counts, he faces up to seven years and eight months in county jail, prosecutors said.
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