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<\/p>\nSacramento, CA…California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and his legal team secured a critical victory in the fight against opioid abuse when the California Court of Appeal upheld the second-degree murder conviction of a former osteopathic doctor, Hsiu Ying\u00a0Tseng. Tseng was\u00a0convicted on February 5, 2016,\u00a0of second-degree murder\u00a0for the prescription drug overdoses of three of her patients:\u00a0Vu Nguyen, Steven Ogle, and\u00a0Joseph Rovero. Tseng was also convicted of 19 counts of unlawful controlled substance prescription and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.\u00a0The trial court sentenced Tseng to 30 years to life in state prison.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEvery day, the opioid crisis destroys lives and communities. It spares no one,\u201d\u00a0said Attorney General Becerra<\/b>.\u00a0\u201cDoctors like\u00a0Hsiu Ying\u00a0Tseng who engage in reckless practices when prescribing drugs that lead to addiction, overdose, and in this case, death, must be held accountable. While the court\u2019s ruling will not bring back the lives lost, it sends a powerful message to those in positions of trust that they, too, will pay a high price for their reckless behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following her sentencing on February 5, 2016, Tseng appealed her conviction. On December 14, 2018, in a 45-page ruling, the appellate court found there was overwhelming evidence of Tseng\u2019s knowledge of the risks involved in her conduct\u00a0and her reckless indifference to the lives of her\u00a0patients.\u00a0The court\u2019s\u00a0published ruling recognizes\u00a0that a medical professional who knowingly\u00a0and\u00a0recklessly prescribes potentially deadly drugs to vulnerable patients, in increasing doses and with utter disregard for their welfare, has committed murder.\u00a0This marks the first time that a doctor in California has been convicted on charges of murder based on the prescription of opioid medications.<\/p>\n