A federal jury has convicted a Murfreesboro nurse practitioner of pumping out enormous quantities of opioid painkillers through a small Carthage pain clinic, in a case prosecutors say helped fuel street diversion and put patients in serious danger of overdose.
Heather Marks, 43, was found guilty of conspiracy and eight counts of illegally distributing controlled substances after repeatedly prescribing high volumes of opioid medications to clinic patients. Authorities say those prescriptions did not just stay with patients – they poured into the community.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Marks was a DEA-licensed advanced registered nurse practitioner who wrote controlled-substance prescriptions at Lifeforce Pain and Wellness in Carthage. From September 2016 through May 2018, federal officials say she personally prescribed nearly a million opioid pills, including oxycodone and oxymorphone, to almost 1,000 Lifeforce patients…