Calif. doctor pleads not guilty in patient deaths
Friday, March 16, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A California doctor has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder in the prescription drug overdose deaths of three patients.
Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng wept profusely during Friday's arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court, where the judge decided to keep her in jail in lieu of $3 million bail.
Tseng is charged with 21 other counts in addition to the deaths involving painkillers.
The Drug Enforcement Administration says Tseng wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions over a three-year period starting in January 2007 -- an average of 25 a day. The three patients who died were otherwise healthy men in their 20s who came to her with complaints of pain and anxiety.
The defense sought a quick preliminary hearing, but the earliest date available was April 30.
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