When you hear about a drug addict being arrested on 276 counts of ID theft, forgery, possession of controlled substances and burglary, the smiling face of the OB/GYN who delivered your children doesn’t immediately come to mind.
Even more shocking: you may be among her 15 patients/ID theft victims. Dr. Lisa Barden admits she’s a drug addict and that she stole identities so she could fill 131 Vicodin and hydrocodone prescriptions at 43 different pharmacies in Southern California. The prescriptions were forged and signed with the names of five colleagues whose prescription pads she also stole.
The pharmacies’ video cameras captured images of Barden as she committed ID theft when presenting the prescriptions.
Barden admits she was addicted to the pain pills and that most days she took more than a dozen of them. A mother of three, she also says the drugs took a serious toll on her relationships with her kids.
Now, though, Barden says she’s been clean for eight months since her February arrest and would like to practice medicine again. But first she might have to trade in her white smock for a prison uniform if she’s convicted on the ID theft, forgery, burglary and drug possession charges.
“It’s fraud. She’s lied. She’s cheated,” said Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Jeanne Roy.
Barden agreed to enter a guilty plea on the drug charges. Roy is prosecuting Barden’s case and doesn’t plan to go easy on her just because she’s a doctor and expresses regret that her drug addiction led her to ID theft and other criminal action.
“I don’t excuse criminal behavior for that,” Roy said.
At least patient says she believes Barden was high when she performed her Cesarean section and left a cut more than two inches long on the right side of her newborn’s head.
Whether or not Barden practiced medicine while under the influence remains to be determined, but it seems unlikely she took more than 12 Vicodins but only after hours.
