Foot doctor may face drug-related charges

4-2005 - Authorities are investigating a doctor here after the state Department of Health determined he "engaged in a systematic pattern of inappropriate and/or overprescribing of controlled substances."

TBI's TennCare fraud unit is investigating osteopath Dr. Robert Ladd, 67, after a patient helped Portland police obtain an undercover tape of the doctor writing her prescriptions.

Police said on one occasion the doctor wrote her a prescription for a narcotic she was allergic to.

Portland police detective Don Hardin said Ladd has written other prescriptions for medications not needed by patients and that the drugs may have been resold.

"We've made traffic stops and arrests for drugs and drug paraphernalia that are patients there and they're known drug traffickers," Hardin said.

No charges have been filed against the doctor, TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said.