Upper East Side Doctor Arrested For Distributing Opioids, Prosecutors Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side doctor is facing federal charges for distributing millions of opioid pills for illegitimate purposes, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York.

Martin Tesher, a general practitioner who operated a family practice on East 68th Street near Madison Avenue, wrote more than more than 14,000 prescriptions totaling more than 2.2 million oxycodone pills between June 2012 and January 2017, prosecutors announced Monday. In some cases Tesher continued to prescribe his patients oxycodone even though he knew they were addicted to the drug or using other hard drugs such as heroin or cocaine, prosecutors said.

"As alleged, Dr. Tesher used his position as a doctor not to heal but to foster opioid addiction," stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde. "This Office and our partners at the DEA will continue to hold medical professionals accountable to the fullest extent of the law whenever they abrogate their duties and contribute to the opioid crisis."

As a family practitioner, Tesher had no specialized expertise in prescribing medication for pain management, prosecutors said. Officials caught wind of Tesher's activities from former patients of Tesher who acted as confidential informants, according to a criminal complaint. (For more Upper East Side news, subscribe to Patch's free daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.)

In one instance, Tesher wrote a first-time patient a prescription for 15 oxycodone pills per day, according to the complaint. The former patient met a man in Tesher's waiting room who claimed that the doctor was prescribing him 600 oxycodone pills per month. The unidentified man told the patient that if they told Tesher they were buying pills off the street, he would write them a large prescription, according to a criminal complaint.

Tesher told the patient he believed the patient had an "addiction" problem, but still wrote a prescription for 450 oxycodone pills per month, according to a criminal complaint.

Four other patients told federal investigators similar stories of Tesher over-prescribing oxycodone, according to a criminal complaint.

On his practice website, Tesher describes himself as a "good old fashioned family doctor," with decades of medical experience.

"Although I am old fashioned in service, I deliver up to date modern medicine using state of the art technology when and where applicable. As a family physician, my interest is in caring for you and your family, and my goal is to keep you healthy and happy for a long time with good medical care, nutritional advice, and preventive medicine," Tesher says on his website.

Tesher was expected to appear in federal court Monday afternoon for his arraignment, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office told Patch.

"Dr. Tesher acted no differently than a multi-million dollar heroin ring, distributing more than $20 million worth of opioids," stated DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Hunt. "In fact, by using his position as a family practitioner, he enabled patients seeking help for substance abuse and turned new patients into opioid addicts by writing unnecessary prescriptions in exchange for cash."

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