Madison doctor settles opioid over-prescription allegations for $110K.

Byline: Michaela Paukner, mpaukner@wislawjournal.com

A Madison doctor has agreed to pay $110,000 to settle allegations that he wrote unnecessary opioid prescriptions.

On Tuesday,Acting U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O'Shea announced that David E. Eckerle entered into a settlement agreement to resolve civil allegations that he had violated the Controlled Substances Act.

The government accused Eckerle of writing prescriptions between May 2016 and January 2020 for opioids and other controlled substances that had no legitimate medical purpose and that were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.

In a statement, O'Shea said opiate addictions can start with a doctor over-prescribing pain pills and then escalate to heroin overdoses and drug-related crimes. He said Wisconsin physicians who increase...