ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – The family of a 28-year-old woman said she was only taking medication prescribed by doctors when she died.
When family members dug deeper into the incident, they suspected the Rochester Hills doctor was overprescribing pills. They went to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and now the doctor could be sent to prison.
Dr. Chris Samy has decided to plead guilty in the case, but in court papers, she said she doesn't want to go to prison. She insisted the nine years prosecutors want is nine years too long, so the Local 4 Defenders paid a visit to her doctor.
Krystal Roe's family said she was bright, intelligent and smart. They said she would do anything to make anybody laugh.
Roe died after a surgery led to an addiction. Her mother went on a mission to find out what really happened.
"We found a lot of prescriptions, a maps report," Suzanne Forgione said.
Forgione investigated her daughter's death so that others could be saved from a similar fate.
"I was shocked that any doctor would prescribe that amount," Forgione said.
A Local 4 Defenders producer visited Samy's office with hidden cameras rolling.
"It's a chance to present your side," our producer said.
"That's true, but you know what the feds will do," Samy said. "They will get so mad at me. They slam dunk me. I have to go at it very slow, very gentle now because I'm really risking a whole bunch."
Samy, 70, doesn't want to do an interview because while she pleaded guilty to the charges, she hasn't been sentenced and doesn't want the judge to know how she really feels.
"If you notice the type of doctors they're going after are not the mainstream doctors," Samy said. "They're going after the second-stream doctors, the foreigners, the minorities."
According to court documents, the DEA sent in undercover agents who purchased pills -- the higher the potency, the higher the price -- and insisted Samy wrote questionable prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of pills worth more than $2.5 million on the street.
Samy pleaded guilty, but she cited her age and years of service against a short period of bad judgment as reasons she shouldn't go to prison. Prosecutors are asking Judge Arthur Tarnow to send her to prison for nine years.
"That's the very toughest thing for a judge to do," Local 4 legal expert Neil Rockind said. "How do you balance the individual while also taking into account overall society?"
Forgione said she hopes the judge will send all doctors a message.
"I just want the world to know the system's broke," Forgione said. "People act like she's getting drugs off the street. She wasn't. This was a doctor she trusted. She's, like, 'Don't worry mom. A doctor would never give me anything that would hurt me.'"
Samy pleaded guilty to count eight of the first superseding indictment, charging her with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation. She was sentenced Wednesday to three years in federal prison. She asked for home confinement on a tether.
The family released the following statement:
"The DEA and local police did an incredible job on this case. It’s a shame that the system is so broken that Chris Samy’s massive overprescribing and drug dealing didn’t raise red flags anywhere – through the medical system, pharmacies, or insurance. Chris Samy only faced consequences after my daughter died and we brought evidence to the authorities.
"No sentence for Dr. Samy will bring my daughter back, but my hope is that this case helps brings awareness and change, and not shame to the victims of the opioid epidemic."
The family said Roe's chronic back pain led to an opioid addiction, and she died after her organs shut down from toxic levels of acetaminophen.
The DEA's investigation showed Samy's prescriptions put hundreds of thousands of pills, worth more than $2.5 million, on the streets of Detroit and West Virginia.
Roe's family said the DEA and police did a great job on the case.
"I just want the world to know the system's broke," Forgione said. "People act like she's getting drugs off the street. She wasn't. This was a doctor she trusted."
More families have come forward since Local 4 first reported the story, including during Samy's sentencing in federal court.
Here is a full victim impact statement made by Roe's family in court:
My name is Renee Haltom, and I’m reading this statement on behalf of my aunt, Suzanne Forgione. My Aunt has already submitted a statement to the Court and wanted the opportunity to address the court in person to explain the impact of Chris Samy’s actions on our family. The following is my aunt’s statement.
My daughter, Krystal, was a patient of Chris Samy’s. She was my only child, and just 28 years old when she died on June 22, 2015 due to her addiction to prescription opiates.
Krystal did not die from a one-time overdose. She died as the result of many years of overprescribing until her organs shut down due to toxic levels of acetaminophen. Her death certificate states acetaminophen toxicity. Her liver and kidneys failed. My daughter didn’t get drugs off the street – she didn’t need to because of doctors like Chris Samy.
Krystal’s addiction started as the result of chronic pain due to nerve damage from a surgical procedure. Doctor after doctor gave her pain pills that would never cure the pain, only mask it. She required more and more pills to be comfortable, and they just kept prescribing. Whenever I would question the amount of medication Krystal was taking, she would repeatedly say, “Mom, a doctor isn’t going to prescribe anything that’s going to hurt me.” She adamantly believed that.
Eventually Krystal sought help for addiction. That’s when she found Chris Samy.
Chris Samy knew Krystal was an addict, yet prescribed her thousands of opiates. Over one six month period, Chris Samy prescribed Krystal enough to take one opioid pill every two hours for the entire six months – more than 2,400 pills. Chris Samy prescribed Krystal opiates one week, and then Suboxone for addiction the next, and then opiates again 6 days later. What kind of doctor prescribes thousands of pills to a person she is fully aware has an addiction problem? What kind of doctor treats a patient as if their life is worthless?
I found Krystal unconscious in her apartment on June 20th, 2015. She died two days later in the ICU surrounded by family who loved her so dearly, many whom are here today. We were shocked – none of us knew the extent of her addiction. But Chris Samy knew. Chris Samy took an oath to help patients. She was a medical doctor who knew what she was doing. She had the opportunity to help Krystal, but instead chose to keep her addicted and dependent for monetary gain.
Krystal was my pride and joy, my greatest accomplishment. She was beautiful, kind, smart, and funny. She rode horses competitively and dreamed of being a nurse after losing her father to cancer when she was just 19. When Krystal died, my family was gone. I cannot describe the pain of losing your child and wondering to this day what I should have done differently. Like Krystal, I had faith in the medical system to help with her addiction. Chris Samy advertises herself as an addiction specialist. Chris Samy was not treating pain or addiction; she was a drug dealer, plain and simple. In my heart I believe that Chris Samy is responsible for my daughter’s death. Chris Samy took my only child. Chris Samy has undoubtedly fed the addiction and maybe even deaths of so many others just like Krystal.
Many people like Krystal become addicted through the legitimate treatment of their pain. But like Krystal, many also become the victims of doctors like Chris Samy. The opioid epidemic would not be what it is without doctors who overprescribe to patients, and it won’t end until the justice system punishes doctors who choose money over the lives of people who come to them for help.
Even as we speak now, you can’t look us in the eye and consider the harm you caused.
-- Suzanne Forgione, June 6, 2018