WOBURN — A case that stretched more than eight years reached its conclusion this week, as retired Dracut physician, Dr. Richard Miron, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges tied to the illegal prescribing of opioids that led to a Lowell patient’s death.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office said Miron, 83, became the first doctor in Massachusetts to be convicted on involuntary manslaughter for prescribing opioids — a conviction that stemmed from the 2016 death of 50-year-old Michelle Craib. He also pleaded guilty to defrauding MassHealth and illegally prescribing medication to patients for no legitimate medical purpose.
Miron was ultimately sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn on Monday to what amounts to five years of probation, allowing him to avoid prison time.
Miron’s attorney, Stephen Weymouth, said on Wednesday that he was prepared and confident to go to trial in a case that has faced a series of delays over the years, but after a conversation with his client earlier this month, the main concern became the possibility of serving time behind bars.
“From the very beginning he said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, and I want to go to trial,’” Weymouth said about Miron. “But then he said he did not want to go to jail.”
Weymouth pointed out that Miron was facing 47 charges, and any one of them could have resulted in a jail sentence. He said that prosecutors had previously sought four to five years in a plea deal, and the involuntary manslaughter charge carried a maximum of 20 years.
“Going to trial would have been a mistake because all it would have taken was one guilty hook and he would have gotten a pretty lengthy sentence, and I just couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t take any chances,” Weymouth said. “If he had gone to trial and lost, who knows what would have happened.”
Miron was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in December 2018 following an investigation that began in September 2017 by the AG’s Office, then headed by now-Gov. Maura Healey. Aside from involuntary manslaughter, he was charged with 23 counts of illegally prescribing controlled substances and 23 counts of filing false Medicaid claims.
From September 2015 to February 2016, the AG’s Office said Miron, a solo practitioner of internal medicine, was the largest provider of high-dose, short-acting oxycodone prescriptions among all MassHealth care providers statewide.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined Craib’s death was caused by acute intoxication from the combined effects of fentanyl, morphine, codeine, and butalbital — all prescribed by Miron. The AG’s Office said Miron was aware that Craib had previously overdosed on opioids he had prescribed, yet he continued to issue large doses to her on multiple occasions leading up to her death.
Prosecutors also said Miron illegally prescribed opioids to several other at-risk patients for no legitimate medical purpose. The illegal prescriptions Miron issued led pharmacies to unknowingly submit false bills to MassHealth for medication.
MassHealth terminated Miron from its program in September 2017, and he stopped practicing medicine in November 2018, following an agreement with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.
In 2023, Miron’s daughter, Linda Miron, penned a 17-page letter to the AG’s Office urging that the case be dropped. She argued that prosecuting her father — who had already relinquished his medical license and lived under pretrial probation since 2018 — was not in the interest of justice.
“To bring this flawed case to trial does not seem to me to be the best use of the Commonwealth’s resources, and I urge you to drop your prosecution of this case in the interest of justice,” Linda Miron said in the letter. “More broadly, I fear that prosecuting someone who was willing to take on disenfranchised, medically and psychologically complicated patients here in the Commonwealth, when some other physicians refused to take on MassHealth patients, will further discourage other physicians from treating these patients who deserve compassionate care.”
The case marched on until Monday, when Miron appeared in Middlesex Superior Court before Judge Cathleen Campbell, where it was finally resolved.
According to the AG’s Office, Miron was sentenced to two and a half years in a house of correction on illegal prescribing, suspended for five years — meaning he will serve the term as probation rather than prison time, unless he violates probation, in which case the sentence could be imposed. He was sentenced to five years of probation on the involuntary manslaughter charge. For Medicaid fraud, Miron was sentenced to six months in a house of correction, suspended for five years.
As part of his probation, Miron was ordered to pay full restitution to MassHealth and barred from practicing medicine or seeking reinstatement of his license.
According to Weymouth, Miron was glad to put the case behind him and most of all to avoid prison time. He noted that Miron had already given up his medical career and had no intention of practicing again.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Weymouth added. “I know he’s glad it’s over.”
In a press release announcing the case’s conclusion on Tuesday, the AG’s Office said the case reflects their “commitment to addressing the root causes of the opioid crisis and holding companies and individuals accountable for their role in contributing to the nationwide epidemic.”
Earlier this year, the release states, Campbell helped negotiate a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, which is expected to bring up to $105 million to Massachusetts. To date, the office said they have secured more than $1 billion in opioid-related recoveries, with more than $390 million already received. Those funds are being directed to the state’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund and distributed to cities and towns to support prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts.
The AG’s Office added in the release that valuable assistance with the investigation into Miron’s case was provided by the Lowell Police Department, the State Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and MassHealth.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
