DEA Revokes Opioid Prescribing Privileges of 'Sports Nurse' Who Served Elite Athletes

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (搜索)搜索该词条 has revoked the opioid-prescribing privileges of Joan Rubinger, a nurse practitioner who built a high-profile sports medicine practice serving elite athletes, after federal authorities alleged she dispensed thousands of illegal prescriptions for highly addictive painkillers. Citing what an administrative law judge called egregious conduct, the DEA last month revoked Rubinger's ability to prescribe opioids, an action that followed her agreement in March to pay $1.4 million to settle a parallel Justice Department civil complaint.

The Justice Department accused Rubinger of dispensing controlled substances such as oxycodone查看药品详情, Percocet查看药品详情, and Xanax查看药品详情 on hundreds of occasions without any legitimate medical purpose. Rubinger did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and agreed to never again prescribe controlled substances. Over a four-year period, federal authorities said, the nurse practitioner prescribed 260,000 pills containing controlled substances to patients in more than 20 states.

Rubinger's website touted a client list that included 169 NFL Pro Bowl selections, 29 NBA and WNBA champions, and 15 Olympic medalists. Among her most notable patients were NBA All Stars Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, as well as MLB All Star Fernando Tatis Jr. There is no suggestion in court records that these athletes committed any wrongdoing or were even aware of Rubinger's alleged prescription practices.

A 'Covert and Slinking' Scheme

The DEA alleged in a seizure warrant that Rubinger's scheme expanded over the years "from professional athletes" to a wide range of other clients, including members of an Ohio-based street gang, a confessed New Jersey drug trafficker, and a New York City model. Along the way, federal authorities alleged, the nurse practitioner took steps to avert DEA suspicion, coaching clients over an encrypted messaging app on ways to avoid having their prescriptions flagged by pharmacies.

New clients had to follow specific steps Rubinger outlined in a document she called "THE RULES," court records show, threatening to cut off anyone who slipped up. "I put these rules in place for a reason: to minimize the attention we attract from the DEA," she told one prospective client, according to the seizure affidavit, which allowed agents to confiscate nearly $170,000 in what it deemed "crime proceeds" from her bank account.

Investigators say Rubinger collected hundreds of thousands of dollars through a digital money transfer app to provide clients with prescriptions for painkillers. She made them pay up front, the DEA said, distributing a price list for painkillers. Getting a prescription, she told clients in "The Rules," was "like at McDonald's, you gotta pay for your burger before they hand it to you."

A Practice Devoid of Oversight

Justice Department lawyers described Rubinger's practice as "highly unorthodox" because it often operated out of hotel rooms, devoid of any medical records or a physician's supervision. She started All Pro Sports Medicine (搜索)搜索该词条 around 2010, describing her company as a niche service that offered athletes discrete medical attention at all hours of the day. In 2014, she was licensed as a nurse practitioner in California, which would have made it possible for her to prescribe medication.

Many states, including California, require nurse practitioners in most circumstances to work under a physician's supervision when prescribing opioids. In early 2024, the DEA said it inspected a Stockton, California, doctor's office where Rubinger had registered her practice. The office belonged to an orthopedic surgeon Rubinger had shadowed years earlier. The surgeon told authorities he had no role supervising her work nor any knowledge of her prolific prescribing activity, according to the DEA order revoking her prescribing registration.

The Investigation and Its Origins

The DEA began investigating Rubinger in 2022 after being tipped off by Kelly Davis, the wife of former All-Pro Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis. Kelly Davis told authorities and the AP that she visited an emergency room in 2022 near her home in Charlotte, North Carolina, complaining of chest pains. As she was being evaluated, a doctor informed her she had been flagged for receiving excessive pain medication prescriptions.

Unbeknownst to her, Rubinger had written 23 oxycodone查看药品详情 prescriptions for her husband over a two-year period listing her as the patient, according to the DEA and Kelly Davis. In court documents, the DEA said Rubinger took such steps with her clients "to obscure her excessive prescribing and avoid law enforcement detection."

"These individuals are not the intended recipients of the prescriptions, often do not even know they are being prescribed controlled substances," the DEA wrote, "and have not been examined by Rubinger, much less have an established doctor-patient relationship with her."

Authorities alleged that Thomas Davis received more than 13,000 oxycodone查看药品详情 and Percocet查看药品详情 pills between November 2019 and March 2024. The DEA also identified another former reserve NBA guard who, along with his wife, paid Rubinger more than $50,000 for illicit prescriptions well after he left the league.

No Criminal Charges

Rubinger's case did not result in criminal charges. Federal prosecutors declined to comment on why they did not pursue criminal charges even as they accused Rubinger in court filings of violating federal drug statutes and regulations 900 times.

James Rafalski, a retired DEA investigator, said he worked many cases that ended in criminal charges and involved far larger volumes of pills, but Rubinger's conduct stood out as especially flagrant. "Most doctors who abuse their DEA registration just write scripts without a thorough examination of the patient," said Rafalski, who reviewed court records in the case. "She knowingly took steps to evade detection by the DEA and instructed her clients to do the same."

Eric Grant, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, said in a statement to AP that "the significant financial penalty" and ban on Rubinger prescribing controlled substances "grants the public meaningful protections against the unlawful dispensing of dangerous drugs."

A spokesman for Rubinger, Erick Mullen, said "Joan's case was not a criminal matter but a civil action," adding that "no administrative or disciplinary actions" had been taken by nursing boards in California and New York, where she is licensed to practice.

The NFL's Opioid Problem

The NFL has well-documented problems with painkillers. A 2011 study found that 52% of the league's retired players used opioids during their career. More recently came a 2020 investigation of the head trainer for the Washington Commanders for illegally distributing oxycodone查看药品详情 to players. The trainer accepted a $10,000 fine under a deal with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution if he stayed out of trouble.

The NFL has put in place more diligent accounting of drug prescriptions. Players are allowed to go outside their teams for medical care, though since 2019, they have been required to report any prescriptions they receive from outside their team.

Kelly Davis said her husband's use of opioids contributed to the demise of her marriage, and the couple divorced last year. In a May interview on The Pivot Podcast, Davis blamed his opioid abuse for wrecking his home life. "There's a lot of shame and guilt," he said, holding back tears. "I've always been a person and a player that said that I would never allow anything to control me."