NJ Doctor Who Wrote Phony Opioid Prescriptions Headed To Prison

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — A Passaic County woman is headed to prison after admitting to writing opioid prescriptions to people for no medical reason.

Lisa Ferraro, 67, of Hillsdale, was a doctor working in HVA Medical Group in Paterson. According to court documents, Ferraro wrote around 425 prescriptions between January 2019 and September 2023 — totaling about 36,500 oxycodone pills that were 30 milligrams each.

Officials added that she did not even examine the “patients” she prescribed the painkillers to, and would split them with the co-conspirators.

"Ferraro typically wrote prescriptions for 90 pills of 30mg of oxycodone each, which were typically split three ways among Ferraro, a conspirator who recruited the fake patients, and the fake patients themselves," a news 2023 release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Two of the “patients,” who were also never examined by Ferraro, were incarcerated. One of them, who’d been in Hudson and Passaic County during the scheme, was in Ferraro’s network for two years, getting around 5,300 pills despite never having been examined.

Ferraro was arrested in 2018 and pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute opioids in July 2024.

She was sentenced on Thursday to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

“Physicians are entrusted with extraordinary power over the lives and health of their patients,” said U.S. Attorney’s Office Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello. “When a physician abandons that duty and instead fuels opioid addiction for profit, the damage ripples far beyond a single exam room and into entire communities. This sentence reflects the seriousness of that breach of trust and sends a clear message: medical licenses are not shields for criminal conduct, and doctors who help drive the opioid epidemic will be held accountable.”