Illinois disqualifies doctor known as 'Dr. Million Pills'

CHICAGO (AP) - Regulators suspended the license Friday of an Illinois doctor known as "Dr. Million Pills" for lavishly prescribing opioid pain pills without examining patients and taking up the operation of a pill mill run by a former doctor whose license was revoked five years ago.

Dr. William J. McMahon's patients filled prescriptions up to 200 miles from his suburban Chicago clinic, according to paperwork signed by Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Acting Director Jessica Baer.

Investigators learned one patient was running a crew of people into the doctor's office to get pills to sell. Drug Enforcement Administration investigators recorded one 60-second office visit during which McMahon provided three prescriptions for the opioid painkiller Norco without examining the patient.

The scheme allegedly involved Joseph Giacchino, a former doctor whose license was revoked in 2011. Giacchino was in the office and took the patient's $200 cash payment and put it "in his front pocket," according to Friday's suspension order.

Giacchino, once considered one of the nation's most prolific prescribers of narcotics, was the original "Dr. Million Pills." Investigators believe that after his license was revoked, Giacchino hooked up with other physicians, including McMahon, and kept the pill mill running.

An Associated Press reporter called McMahon's office Friday and asked to speak with him. A man came to the phone, answered to McMahon's name, but later said he wasn't the doctor. The man gave his name as "Louis" and said the office hadn't received the suspension order.