Philly doc linked to 4 opioid deaths loses his medical license

A federal jury in Philadelphia last week convicted Jeffrey Bado, who formerly practiced in Roxborough and Bryn Mawr, on 308 counts, including 269 of drug distribution and one of drug distribution resulting in death. In October, pill mill kingpin William J. O’Brien III was sentenced in federal court to 30 years in prison on 123 counts  involving money laundering and drug trafficking, in an operation that included prostitutes and the Pagans motorcycle gang.

Joe Caltagirone said Wednesday that he hopes prosecutors are investigating Barone as well. His 39-year-old son, Joey,  died in May 2014 after what an expert witness at Barone’s license-suspension hearing several months later described as a “blatantly hazardous” methadone prescription whose deadly outcome was “predictable.” According to a civil lawsuit against Barone filed by lawyer Richard J. Hollawell of Marlton, the doctor had already prescribed 13,965 Percocets, 10,622 OxyContins, and 3,267 Xanax, among others.

Three months ago, Hollawell filed another suit alleging that sales representatives for a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals, the giant drugmaker with North American headquarters in North Wales, Montgomery County, had illegally marketed a type of fentanyl to Barone, who prescribed it to Caltagirone.

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