According to his plea agreement, Nicola Tauraso, MD, practiced as a pediatrician between 1972 and 2007. In 2009 he opened a pain management practice in Frederick, Md. Dr. Tauraso saw an excessive number of patients at his clinic — typically about 80 per eight-hour day — and wrote prescriptions for Oxycodone and Ocycontine without determining if a medical need existed for the prescriptions.