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SCHENECTADY---A Schenectady doctor who was known for making house calls has been arrested for operating what authorities labeled a mobile pharmacy, taking prescription medications from his patients and allegedly selling them on the black market, pocketing over $10,000 according to authorities.
David Hornick, 63, who worked out of his home at 16 Crimson Oak Court in Schenectady, has been charged with three felony counts of possession of controlled narcotics and a misdemeanor count of possession of stolen property.
Police said Hornick was skimming pills from current patients as well as patients who had died. He was arrested Monday in the parking lot of the Eastern Avenue CVS. Police said that they found nearly 2,000 pills in the trunk of his car.
Hornick became under suspicion when one of his patients reported him for acting strangely. She also said that the pills he was giving her were not controlling her pain. Upon contacting the pharmacy that was handling her prescriptions, she learned that although there were a number of prescriptions in her name, she was not receiving them. Police said that the labels had been removed from the pill containers in Hornick's trunk so they could not be traced.
Hornick was listed as a staff physician at Homedical Associates of Niskayuna. Most of the patients he served were homebound and on Medicare.
Earlier this year, another Schenectady doctor was implicated in a prescription drug scheme. Although he has not been criminally charged, Bryan C. Kramer, son of Schenectady County Surrogate Court judge Barry Kramer, voluntarily placed his license to practice medicine on the state's inactive list.
Kramer, of Clifton Park, has practiced at the Vascular Group in Schenectady since 2002 and was also the assistant professor of surgery at the facility.
In early February, Stacy Freitag, 37, a licensed practical nurse at the facility was arrested and charged with conspiring with 13 others over a 19-month period to possess and distribute the narcotic painkiller hydrocodone.
Kramer requested inactive status after learning that the state Board of Professional Medical Conduct was conducting an investigation.
Two other medical professionals at the vascular surgery practice were also arrested in the prescription drug sweep. 6-06-07
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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