A Middletown doctor who paid a six-figure sum last year to resolve allegations regarding inadequate drug registrations for his practices is now accused of overprescribing testosterone.
Bucks County detectives allege that an investigation started in 2023 found that Dr. Joseph Kepko, 64, allegedly prescribed hundreds of patients a drug used to treat low testosterone at twice the maximum dose considered medically appropriate.
Kepko was arraigned before District Judge Michael Gallagher on Thursday, Oct. 22 on 10 felony counts involving the administration of controlled substances between 2021 and 2023. He was released on unsecured bail.
His attorney, Michael Diamondstein, said Thursday, Oct. 23 that his client denies the allegations against him.
“He is a caring doctor who has spent his life taking care of Bucks County residents,” Diamondstein said. “He looks forward to clearing his good name.”
Bucks County detectives became involved after a Drug Enforcement Administration agent contacted the department about an investigation into Kepko for various violations, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit noted that one of Kepko’s patients, who died by suicide, had a “very high” amount of opioids being prescribed to him by the doctor at the time of his death.
Kepko has an active license to practice osteopathic medicine in Pennsylvania. He was disciplined in 1998 for unprofessional conduct when he failed to diagnose cardiac disease in a patient, according to the affidavit.
In 2023, Bucks County detectives conducted a search of Kepko’s Red Rose Gate office and also reviewed Kepko’s records filed with the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which showed he issued a large number of prescriptions for a drug typically used to treat low testosterone levels in men.
Authorities allege that the monitoring program showed that Kepko was prescribing the medication at double the typical maximum dose for hundreds of patients.
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