Federal Grand Jury Indicts Physician Charged with Diluting HIV/AIDS Medications

By Brittany Golledge

Published on August 02, 2005

Dr. George Kooshian is accused of charging insurance companies the cost of full HIV-related treatments while dispensing only a fraction of the prescribed dosage to patients. Members of Kooshian's staff maintain that the doctor ordered them to administer as little as 25%-50% of the prescribed dosage. In some cases, it is also alleged that Kooshian ordered staff to substitute saline or water for actual medication, later charging insurance companies as much as $7,000 for the treatment.

Kooshian's assistant, Virgil Opinion, is also named in the indictment. U.S. Attorney, Jeannie Joseph, has argued that the doctor's actions have caused an immeasurable amount of distress to many of his former patients, many of whom have passed away in the interim. While Joseph admits that there may or may not be a link between the doctors actions and the deaths of several of his patients, she maintains that regardless, the doctors actions have had a significant effect on former patients' quality of life.

Accusations against Kooshian were made public in a series of articles published in 2001. Since then, several lawsuits have been filed against Kooshian, and settled for undisclosed amounts.

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