Doctor had 40 patients die in six years, leading to murder charges, Florida cops say

A now-discredited gynecologist in Florida faces 50 criminal charges after investigators said they learned that 40 of her patients died in six years.

Elaine Sharp, 72, has lost her medical license and is accused of running a “ pill mill ” out of her office in Gulf Breeze, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The agency announced her arrest Oct. 4.

McClatchy News reached out to Sharp’s attorney for comment Oct. 11 but didn’t immediately receive a response.

“We know this drug ring, led by Dr. Elaine Sharp, was a major contributor of illegal drugs flowing into our neighborhoods and even attracting drug dealers from throughout the Southeast looking for an easy way to obtain these drugs,” FDLE Pensacola Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams said in the release.

In June, the Florida Department of Public Health revoked Sharp’s license to practice, which consisted of gynecology and an illegal all-cash pain management clinic, investigators said in a Santa Rosa County arrest affidavit.

‘Patients dying from overdoses’

Sharp is accused of ignoring “red flags” when treating patients .

“Sharp was not board certified in pain management and was unaware that there was a certification for it,” investigators wrote in the affidavit.

Law enforcement said Sharp overprescribed opioids to patients without assessing their medical need or risk of substance abuse and “coached” them on what to say so she could prescribe them drugs.

Local pharmacists began noticing large quantities of prescriptions written by Sharp, including opiates and benzodiazepines prescribed in dangerous combinations, according to investigators.

It reached the point that certain pharmacies in the area set “blanket” orders not to fill any prescriptions written by Sharp, investigators said.

“Sharp was aware of some of her patients dying from overdoses,” law enforcement said.

Investigators said they eventually learned about 40 patients of the practice fatally overdosed from 2017 to 2023.

In one case, Sharp prescribed a patient 120 oxycodone pills, then the next day, that patient fatally overdosed on oxycodone, according to the medical examiner and law enforcement.

An employee of the clinic told investigators he received calls from patients’ family members concerned about their loved one being an addict, and he said Sharp continued seeing patients who were being investigated for drug offenses, law enforcement said.

Some patients were taking the prescription pills themselves, while some were selling the pills and referring others to Sharp’s practice, law enforcement said.

Eleven other people have been charged in connection to the case, according to the FDLE.

Sharp’s charges in Santa Rosa County include two counts of murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to commit racketeering, unlawfully prescribing for monetary gain, unlawfully prescribing not medically necessary, drug trafficking and money laundering exceeding $100,000.

Gulf Breeze is part of the Pensacola metropolitan area in the Florida Panhandle.

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