April hearing set in Nagareddy case

A motion-to-dismiss hearing is set for April 19 in the case of a Clayton County psychiatrist accused of running a pill mill that authorities say may have led to the deaths of dozens of his patients.

Dr. Narendra Nagareddy was arrested in January and charged with one felony drug charge for illegally prescribing pain medications. Nagareddy is out on $100,000 bond. As a condition of his bond, Nagareddy can not return to his practice or dispense medicine.

The psychiatrist was the subject of a yearlong undercover investigation by law enforcement authorities. Investigators in the case say that three dozen of Nagareddy’s patients died while he was prescribing them controlled substances. Investigators said they confirmed through autopsy reports that 12 patients died of prescription drug overdoses but declined to give more information on the other 24 patients. Only seven overdose deaths were described in public records reviewed by the AJC.

An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that years of state and federal data, available to the public, raised red flags showing that Nagareddy was among the state Medicaid program's top prescribers of one of the most abused prescription drugs.