Local doctor who pleaded guilty to illegally prescribing narcotics surrenders medical license
A Fountain Valley doctor who was sentenced in September to nearly six years in prison for illegally prescribing narcotics no longer has a medical license, according to the Medical Board of California.
Dr. Victor Boon Huat Siew, 66, a Laguna Beach resident who ran a clinic in Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance by a practitioner.
Siew signed an agreement Dec. 5 surrendering his physician’s and surgeon’s certificate, a move that bars him from practicing medicine, according to medical board documents.
The doctor admitted to illegally prescribing oxycodone, methadone and alprazolam from his clinic from 2009 through 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Prosecutors said Siew, clinic employee Thanh Nha Pham and physician assistant Kaitlyn Phuong Nguyen issued prescriptions without a medical purpose in exchange for cash and insurance payments, despite “red flags” in many of the patients’ files that indicated they were abusing their pain medication.
Authorities said four people died of drug overdoses after obtaining prescriptions.
Nguyen, of San Jose, was convicted in September of 10 felony counts.
Pham, of Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty in January 2017 to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
Both were scheduled to be sentenced this month.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
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