'He's A Serial Killer': LI Doctor Charged With Murder In 5 Deaths

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — A Long Island doctor was charged with five counts of murder Thursday after prosecutors said he prescribed "shockingly reckless" amounts of opioid pills, causing the deaths of five patients.

George Blatti, 75, of Rockville Centre, was charged with five counts of second-degree murder and 11 counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. He was held in custody and is due back in court March 30. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors said they believe it is the first time a doctor has been charged under New York law with second-degree murder under the theory of depraved indifference to human life. The charges of reckless endangerment relate to the five people who died, as well as six patients who survived. Blatti willing surrendered his medical license on June 24, 2019.

Blatti prescribed thousands of pills to patients, which caused the deaths of five, prosecutors allege. According to prosecutors, Geraldine Sabatasso, 50, received 4,230 pills in six and a half months; Michael Kinzer, 44, received 1,025 pills in less than six months; Robert Mielinis, 55, was prescribed 10,620 pills in two-and-half years; Sean Quigley, 31, was prescribed 10,620 pills over three years and four months; and Diane Woodring, 53, was given 18,060 pills over four years.

"Despite his training and many years of experience, despite the unmistakable signs that the patients that he was seeing were in the throes of addiction that was debilitating, we allege that this defendant cravenly continued to prescribe shockingly reckless and foreseeably lethal doses of dangerous painkillers, all the while billing insurance and collecting cash," said Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

According to Singas, the Nassau Nassau County Police Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Unit started investigating several opioid overdoses, which were both fatal and non-fatal, in August 2018. The investigation found that many of the overdose victims had prescriptions from Blatti, Singas said.

Blatti was a general practitioner with no specialty in pain management. He had offices in Malverne and a Franklin Square storefront that used to be a Radio Shack, which still had Radio Shack signs and merchandise racks on the walls.

Blatti would meet with his patients in his office in Franklin Square. When he lost the space, Singas said he would meet with them in his car and prescribe opioids to patients without an exam. He would accept insurance and cash, Singas said.

He was arrested in October 2019 and charged with 22 counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance, six counts of second-degree forgery, two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, 22 counts of fourth-degree criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions and two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment.

Singas said that Blatti prescribed thousands of pills to his patients, some at many times the daily dose for pain killers, calling it a "staggering amount of opioids."

"Basically, he's a serial killer in our opinion," she added.

The investigation into Blatti's actions continued after his arrest. Singas said that several of the victims' families helped. According to Singas, Blatti knew how dangerous his actions were to his patients, and he knew that several of his patients had died. Singas said that he even called the Nassau County Medical Examiner's office and the patients' families to find out about the cause of death.

Singas said that the deaths did not stop Blatti, and neither did the pleas and threats from patients' family members for him to stop fueling addictions. According to Singas, he ignored documented overdoses and drug use in his patients' medical records; disregarded multiple warnings from pharmacies, insurers and Medicaid aover excessive opioid prescriptions; and continued to prescribe deadly quantities and combinations of drugs, even after he was interviewed by the New York Office of Professional Medical Conduct in 2017.

Singas said that Blatti even refused pleas from at least three patients to stop their opioid use, instead "doubling down" and prescribing them more painkillers.

"I've been a prosecutor for nearly 30 years, and I've never seen a case in which a physician has acted with such incredible and reckless disregard for human life," said Singas. "This is an unprecedented case, but these victims and their families deserve justice."