A Louisville pediatrician accused of using other people's names to get prescription drugs paid for by Kentucky Medicaid has taken a plea deal.
Dr. Christian Berkhahn, 51, faces the case after investigators said he wrote the prescriptions and asked other people to pick them up, according to WLKY. The station reported that Kentucky Medicaid paid for the drugs.
Names on the Prescriptions
The allegation is a blunt inversion of what a prescription is supposed to do. Investigators say the names on the scripts were not Berkhahn's, and the people collecting the drugs were collecting them for him.
A Justice Department case summary says he was charged by information with conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by fraud or deceit and health care fraud, in connection with using his DEA number to order controlled substances in others' names. WLKY reports he was indicted in June on those same two offenses. The public accounts do not explain how those charging descriptions fit together.
A Deal, Not a Sentence
Under the plea deal, WLKY reports, Berkhahn faces up to 18 years in prison and a maximum fine of $750,000. Those are ceilings, not a sentence. The station says he will be sentenced in February 2027.
The reporting does not include the plea agreement itself, the offenses covered by the deal, or any final penalty. What is on the calendar is a sentencing date, about eight months after his June 2026 indictment, for a pediatrician whose DEA number federal prosecutors tie to drugs ordered in other people's names.
