Baltimore-Based Physician Assistant Banned From Prescribing Opioids Under Federal Consent Decree

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Elizabeth J. Allen, a Baltimore-based physician assistant, is banned from prescribing opioids and controlled substances under a recently approved federal consent decree, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said Friday.

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman approved the consent decree, forbidding Allen from applying for the Drug Enforcement Administration registration required to prescribe controlled substances. Allen's registration lapsed in 2020, federal prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors alleged Allen violated the Controlled Substances Act while working at the Centers for Rehabilitation, Pain Management, and Wellness in Pikesville. From 2014 to 2019, Allen allegedly issued hundreds of prescriptions with "no legitimate medical purpose," prosecutors alleged.

Allen allegedly prescribed "dangerous and potentially lethal combinations of opioids and benzodiazepines" and sometimes gave opioids to patients who tested positive for illicit or unprescribed substances in urine toxicology screenings, prosecutors alleged.

"The Court's approval of this consent decree should remind all medical practitioners that the U.S. Attorney's Office intends to use all the tools at its disposal—both criminal and civil—to combat the opioid epidemic which continues to plague our State," said Maryland U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron. "We will hold responsible all medical professionals who contribute to Maryland's opioid epidemic by overprescribing opioids, regardless of their title or the letters that follow their name."

In:
• Baltimore
• Baltimore City
• Drug Enforcement Administration