A Gray doctor is scheduled to be in federal court Friday on charges for alleged illegal drug prescriptions and money laundering.
Prosecutors allege Thomas Sachy often prescribed opioid drugs without a medical diagnosis and sometimes without examining patients.
At the Medical Center, Navicent Health, they say procedures are in place to prevent abuses from those prescribing the drugs and those asking for the prescriptions.
Graves Pharmacy operates right inside Navicent Health in Macon near the emergency room.
Pharmacist Jim Graves has been in the business since 1961 and says opioids have become a more common prescription.
"There was a time when it was a different age. People didn't take as much medicine, and to see someone who might be addicted or in the habit of taking was just a very rare occurrence," said Graves.
He said they also check with a state registry to make sure people aren't taking advantage. "If a man went to Drugstore A three days and Drugstore B yesterday, and then he's in here, then we see that, and of course, we would refuse to fill the prescription."
Patients must be from the area and get all their prescriptions filled with Graves so they have a history.
Emergency Center director Doctor John Wood says they require seeing patients.
"Any patient, any prescription we write out of this department, there is a record, the patient is seen. We can't pre-sign prescriptions, we don't, if someone calls and said, 'Hey, I need a refill,' like, no, no, you have to come back to the ER for evaluation," said Wood.
Wood says they also check the Georgia Prescription Database and other states that share information.
He says they also try other remedies and alternatives before jumping to controlled susbtance prescriptions.
Wood also told us about Navicent's Opioid Stewardship Committee which continuously reviews opioid policies at all their hospitals and medical centers.