A doctor from Hempfield entered a plea of no contest in the overdose death of one of his patients.
The Tribune-Review reports that 80-year-old Dr. Egar Peske entered the plea to charges of drug delivery resulting in death, unlawfully prescribing controlled substances and Medicaid fraud for prescribing Methadone that lead to the overdose death of 30-year-old Nicole Henderson, a patient of his.
Henderson had been given other prescriptions for pain killers and other medicines when two weeks before her death in in June of 2015, Peske prescribed 100 methadone pills. The pharmacy initially refused to fill the prescription, Peske resubmitted it and they allowed it.
According to court documents, Peske pleaded no contest because he felt it was in his best interest. He faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in about three months.
