阿拉斯加护士执业者非法开阿片致3名患者死亡：被判刑26年
阿拉斯加州 Anchorage 都会区 Eagle River 的前高级执业护士 Jessica Joyce Spayd，55 岁，因在无正当医疗目的的情况下非法开具阿片类药物、致 3 名患者过量死亡，11 月 13 日在联邦法院被判处 26 年监禁。美国司法部阿拉斯加区检察官办公室公布了这一量刑结果。
据法庭文件，Spayd 经营一家自称提供慢性疼痛与成瘾治疗的诊所长达 5 年多，期间在没有正当医疗目的、超出正常执业范围的情况下，大剂量开具高度成瘾、有时致命的阿片类及其他药物，常开出危险的药物组合，且少有医疗依据、治疗计划、检测或体格检查。她无视患者的病史、风险因素、既往过量、怀孕等情况，也无视患者家属、药剂师和其他医务人员的警告，以及保险公司发来的数千封风险提示信。
Spayd 此前曾被陪审团定罪，罪名包括非法开药致 5 人过量死亡，获刑 30 年；但因主审的前联邦地区法官 Joshua M. Kindred 未依法回避，该定罪与量刑被推翻。此后她与政府达成协议，改就致 3 人过量死亡认罪，本次 26 年刑期即按认罪协议宣判。检方表示，她的行为还与至少 20 起已确认的药物过量有关。
俄勒冈区联邦检察官 Scott Bradford 负责此案并表示，Spayd 身为持牌专业人员，其行为比街头毒贩更阴险，她利用执照伤害了信任她的患者。缉毒局（DEA）西雅图分局与联邦调查局（FBI）Anchorage 分局官员也分别发表声明。本案由 DEA 与 FBI 查办；阿拉斯加区检察官办公室已回避此案，纽约北区助理联邦检察官 Steven D. Clymer 被任命为特别检察官协助办理。（来源：美国司法部阿拉斯加区检察官办公室）
Alaska Nurse Practitioner Sentenced to 26 Years for Illegally Prescribing Opioids That Killed Three Patients
Jessica Joyce Spayd, 55, a former advanced nurse practitioner from Eagle River in the Anchorage, Alaska, metropolitan area, was sentenced on November 13 to 26 years in federal prison for illegally prescribing opioids outside any legitimate medical purpose, causing the overdose deaths of three of her patients, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska announced.
According to court documents, for over five years Spayd operated what purported to be a legitimate clinic offering treatment for chronic pain and addiction. In reality, without legitimate medical purpose and outside the scope of professional practice, she routinely prescribed staggeringly large quantities of highly addictive and sometimes lethal opioids and other drugs, often in notoriously dangerous combinations, with little to no medical justification, treatment plans, testing or physical examinations. She disregarded patients' medical histories, risk factors, past overdoses and pregnancies, ignored warnings from patients' family members, pharmacists and other medical providers, and ignored thousands of warning letters from insurance companies.
Spayd was originally convicted by a jury of offenses including causing five overdose deaths and was sentenced to 30 years, but that conviction and sentence were overturned because the presiding judge, now-former U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Kindred, erroneously failed to recuse himself. She then entered into an agreement with the government to plead guilty to causing three overdose deaths, and the 26-year sentence was imposed on that plea. Prosecutors said her conduct also contributed to at least 20 confirmed drug overdoses.
Scott Bradford, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, who handled the case, said Spayd, as a licensed professional, acted more insidiously than a street-level dealer and used her license to inflict irreparable harm on patients who trusted her. Officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Seattle Field Division and the FBI's Anchorage Field Office also issued statements. The DEA and FBI investigated the case. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska was recused, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Clymer of the Northern District of New York was appointed as a Special Attorney to assist. (Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Alaska)
来源：美国司法部阿拉斯加区检察官办公室
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：阿拉斯加州最大城市 Anchorage 市中心天际线，本案在该州起诉与量刑。Laura Alier 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，已裁 16:9。 / Photo: The downtown Anchorage skyline in Alaska, where this case was prosecuted and sentenced. Photo by Laura Alier, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped to 16:9.
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