Philadelphia-area doctor charged in painkiller death

PHILADELPHIA — A doctor charged with selling highly addictive painkillers through a large network of drug dealers and phony patients was charged Thursday with causing a man's overdose death.

The charges unsealed Thursday are only the latest against Dr. Norman Werther, 73, of Horsham. In a third indictment, federal prosecutors accuse him of illegally prescribing at least 180 oxycodone tablets to the overdose victim in the summer of 2010 before the man's death in Montgomery County.

Authorities refer to the man by initials N.B. and say he was not alone in getting back-to-back refills for painkillers that are meant to be strictly controlled but have become popular and profitable street drugs. They believe Werther helped put 700,000 oxycodone tablets on the street from 2009 until his initial arrest in 2011.

Sixty-seven people have been charged in the case.