AG: Psychiatrist Prescribed Powerful Drugs Without a Legitimate Medical Purpose

A psychiatrist from Central Islip who had offices in Ronkonkoma and Holbrook has been arrested after officials say she unlawfully prescribed drugs without a legitimate medical purpose.

Nasreen Kader, 48, was arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday on 15 felony counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance. She faces up to 5 and a half years in prison on each county.

The state attorney general’s office began an investigation of Kader after two Long Island families complained that the doctor was overprescribing highly addictive controlled substances to their family members, according to a news release from Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s office.

Schneiderman said Kader repeatedly offered prescriptions for Xanax and Klonopin, powerful tranquilizers used to treat anxiety disorders, and Ritalin, a stimulant prescribed for concentration disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to undercover Attorney General investigators posing as patients who sought the drugs for illegitimate purposes.

Kader, who has numerous videos on her YouTube page in which she answers medical questions, met with the undercover agents posing as patients on 12 separate occasions at her Ronkonkoma office, located at 228 Carroll Avenue, between August 2012 and September 2013, officials said.

Each time, Kader gave prescriptions to her “patients” after engaging in only brief visits, some lasting a minute or less, without conducting a medical history, physical assessment, or psychological evaluation of their symptoms, and in disregard for the “patient’s” behavior, which included statements that the drugs were being unlawfully shared with others, Schneiderman said.

“Doctors swear to save lives, and must be stopped if they are found to be feeding the prescription drug addiction epidemic that is devastating families across New York and across our country,” Schneiderman said in the news release. “A drug dealer is a drug dealer, whether they work on the street or inside a doctor’s office. We will use every tool at our disposal to bring criminal charges against those who endanger our citizens by fueling dangerous addictions to prescription medications.”

Kader also had an office in Holbrook at 223 Union Avenue. She surrendered her license in June to the state Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct, based upon a finding that she had inappropriately prescribed and overprescribed controlled substances to numerous patients, Schneiderman said.

Kader’s attorney, Douglas Nadjari, told News 12 that the charges against his client are ”not supported by medical testimony or medical analysis.”

Photo: YouTube screenshot

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