Michigan physician convicted in massive telehealth stimulant case; fewer ED visits, higher admission rates after L.A. immigration sweeps; experimental drug restores vision, movement in MS mice — Morning Medical Update

Michigan physician convicted in massive telehealth stimulant case

The verdict is the 11th conviction tied to the Done Global platform.

A federal jury in the Western District of Michigan convicted Jonathan Decker, 46, of Rockford, Michigan, of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and six counts of distribution, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Oct. 2. Prosecutors said he prescribed more than 2 million pills of Adderall and other stimulants through the Done ADHD platform without examining patients and was paid more than $1 million. He faces up to 140 years in prison; no sentencing date has been set.

Prosecutors said Decker prescribed Adderall to a patient even after her mother told him the patient had schizophrenia and that the drug worsened her psychotic symptoms. Prosecutors describe a $100 million drug distribution and health care fraud scheme at California-based Done Global Inc., whose CEO, Ruthia He, was sentenced to 72 months in prison. The company itself still faces charges.

Fewer ED visits, higher admission rates after L.A. immigration sweeps

The drop in visits narrowed over four months but did not close.

Emergency department (ED) visits by patients born outside the U.S. fell at three Los Angeles County safety-net hospitals after immigration enforcement in the region intensified in June 2025, according to a study published Oct. 5 in JAMA Network Open. Compared with U.S.-born patients, their visits fell more than 20% in the first four weeks, a gap that narrowed to about 10% by October 2025.

Foreign-born patients who did come to the ED were more likely to be admitted, by about 5 percentage points for those born in Mexico or Central or South America. The authors said that likely signals higher acuity, though they did not measure acuity or distinguish documented from undocumented immigrants. In Chicago, pediatric no-show rates rose most among Latine and Spanish-speaking patients after an immigration enforcement operation, according to an abstract presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics national conference.

Experimental drug restores vision, movement in MS mice

The results are in animals; researchers hope to move into human trials.

An experimental drug derived from HIV and hepatitis B antivirals reversed vision loss and paralysis in mice with a multiple sclerosis (MS)-like disease, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study published Sept. 23 in Science Translational Medicine. University of Virginia researchers gave kamuvudine-9 (K-9) after symptoms appeared, and treated mice recovered more than those given a standard MS drug. The researchers said the drug likely works by blocking the inflammasome, an innate immune alarm system in the brain and spinal cord.

In a separate analysis of insurance claims from more than 3 million U.S. patients, those taking related antivirals for HIV or hepatitis B were less likely to be diagnosed with MS or to relapse, an association that does not establish cause. K-9 has been tested in clinical trials for eye diseases, and the team hopes to study it in people with MS and ALS.