DEA accuses star-athlete pain specialist Joan Rubinger of illegal opioid prescribing
A Charlotte nurse practitioner who treated elite NFL, NBA, WNBA and Olympic athletes faces accusations of issuing illegal opioid prescriptions.
What to know
- Joan Rubinger, a nurse practitioner based in Charlotte, N.C., built a sports medicine practice, All Pro Sports Medicine, treating top professional athletes.
- Her website touted a client list including 169 NFL Pro Bowl selections, 29 NBA and WNBA champions and 15 Olympic medalists.
- The DEA flagged her opioid prescribing patterns, and she is now accused of issuing illegal opioid prescriptions.
- Rubinger herself became paralyzed after a catastrophic biking accident before becoming an influential pain-relief specialist.
Joan Rubinger Nurse practitioner, sports medicine pain specialistDEA Federal drug enforcement agency
The record 3 articles and posts · last 28 days
- summary covers to here · Aug 28, 5:11 AM · 2 pieces above arrived after
What people are saying 11 voices from 1 site · verbatim
- Aug 30
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Insurance companies stopped Paying the very best of the best and that is why they no longer take insurance
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Drs aren’t giving pain medication after surgery, cancer patients are being denied treatment, 80 year olds are denied treatment for their chronic pain who are retirement homes because a dr is worried about the possibility of addiction. It’s nothing like what it used to be and there are patients who shouldn’t needlessly suffer who actually need it…
- Aug 29
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Yeah I think you missed my point. Someone tried to point to the decreased training requirements for NPs as the reason for this specific case and the point I was trying to make is how can that explain the issue when we also see the same behavior from non-NPs? Edited to correct a misspelling
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Are you a NP? Did you go through this "education"? I will agree with you the standards set in some states are dangerous but belittling their education is bullshit.
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At the end of the day, addiction is a cluster fuck my friend! It won't feel WAY easier for the patient even if common sense is applied to laws, because addiction is, sadly, a breakdown of common sense... Common sense is only common when you get 100 people together so they can all call out each other's flaws
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That is malpractice and if your doctor still had a soul he was likely influenced by the pharmaceutical industry- don't allow huge corporations to push addictive drugs!!! That's what I'm trying to say here. That can only be solved by making people like that train and read up on new medical guidelines and information. Then your doctor would have…
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The problem is the cost of medical care, something doctors and the ADA actively inflate. They cap the number of doctors, oppose universal healthcare, and demand the highest pay of any medical staff in the world. So yeah, we need ways to get care for cheaper. It would be nice if my mechanic were one of the people who invented the internal…
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Are people in the US this heavy on opioids? The average work year is 250 days so over 4 years she prescribed 260 pills per day and at a generous 3 patients per hour average you guys think just over 10 opioids per day average is normal? For acute pain sure you'll see q1-3h prn dosing but if we're talking chronic pain as most of these are on we…
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I once lived across the street from an NHL player who once held the fastest slap shot record and took a gnarly hit where he ended up missing an entire season due to injuries. He carried around a bottle of Percocets and would pop one about every 15 minutes.
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There’s a huge group on my area. One pain doc who only does injections and a bunch of NPs that prescribe and never seem to say no to anyone.
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She sold upwards of 260k pills, and only got fined $1.4 million. Considering the prices of pain pills, I think she made out like a bandit.