Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng is the first U.S. doctor to be convicted of murder for recklessly prescribing medication. Three of Tseng’s patients fatally overdosed. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison. It is the first US case in which a doctor has been convicted on murder charges related to a patient overdosing. With the U.S. epidemic of heroin abuse often triggered by a prior addiction to prescription drugs, cases against doctors like the Tseng case are becoming more common.
Tseng’s lawyer said Tseng was “a well-meaning physician who had gotten in over her head in dealing with manipulative, drug-seeking patients.” During her sentence, the 46-year-old Tseng apologized to the families of her victims – Joey Rovero, 21, Steven Ogle, 25, and Vu Nguyen, 28. “I cannot imagine what you have gone through,” she said.
