U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman discussed the new priority after his office asked a judge to delay the trial of Paul Ray Taylor, 63, charged with two counts of drug distribution. The request, filed Tuesday, says they are investigating whether Taylor contributed to the overdose deaths of six people and may file a new indictment.
If Taylor is charged in the deaths, it would be the second such prosecution by Tolman's office since December. Tolman described such unlawful professionals as the "sources of widespread drug use."
"We have an increased emphasis on investigating bad doctors or bad pharmacists or bad health practitioners who are abusing the system," Tolman said Thursday. "We can arrest and prosecute user after user after user and there are many times when that's appropriate, but we've learned from experience that is a revolving door."
Mark Fotheringham, a spokesman for the Utah Medical Association, questioned whether fraudulent doctors are a major resource for drug abusers, calling those doctors "few and far between." Fotheringham also worried Tolman could dissuade physicians from prescribing medication for legitimate ailments.
"The thing you don't want to do is criminalize the practice of medicine," Fotheringham said.
Tolman said honest doctors who might be duped by patients who fake ailments to gain prescriptions do not have to be concerned.
Taylor is scheduled for a Tuesday trial on the distribution charges. As of late Thursday, the judge had not yet ruled on the government's request to reschedule.
"During the continuing investigation, the government has identified six patients of the defendant who died as a result of drug overdoses," the prosecutor wrote in Tuesday's filing.
Taylor, who operated a family practice in Layton, is being held in the Weber County jail awaiting trial.
In December, Murray doctor Warren Stack was indicted and accused in court documents of contributing to five deaths. Stack, who investigators said was writing dozens of prescriptions per day, has been indicted on 18 counts, including conspiracy, illegal drug distribution and fraud, but no homicide charges. Stack has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Both the Stack and Taylor cases have come as Utah has seen an increase in deaths from prescription drugs. Prescription drugs - obtained both legally and illegally - killed 380 Utahns in 2006, according to the Utah Department of Health.
Tolman said he has not created any new positions or changed assignments in his office, but has issued new directives to his drug prosecutors. The office has "several investigations" underway concerning prescription drugs, Tolman said, but he declined to say how many of those involve health professionals.
Tolman said his office is "triaging" the cases, with professionals who have contributed to deaths receiving the highest priority.
Doctor prosecutions have been scarce in Utah. The state's controlled substances database - available to both law enforcement and doctors - collects data on prescriptions, but is not programmed to alert authorities to questionable prescription writing or to distinguish among doctor specialities. Also, unlike with street drug dealers, successfully prosecuting doctors requires demonstrating a pattern of unlawful activity.
