SF surgeon jailed, accused of unlawful prescriptions

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A San Francisco surgeon is now in jail on a two million dollar bond for allegedly illegally prescribing narcotics to his girlfriend. 

UCSF police have arrested Dr. Christopher Dean Owens for prescribing opioids.
The 49-year-old faces 99 counts, mostly for the "transportation, sale, and giving away of a controlled substance."

UCSF announced today that Owens, a well known vascular surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco VA Medical Center has been fired.

UCSF released a statement saying that Owens "has been on investigatory leave since June 3rd and has not engaged in any clinical activities since then."

Just two days before that, Owen's girlfriend 35-year-old Danielle Pattillo turned up dead in the Sutro Heights home that the two shared together.

While Owens was never charged with any crime, a source tells KTVU that Pattillo died of an overdose from the drug GHB, commonly known as the "date rape" drug.

"Wow, I am shocked," said George Pappas, who works at Kawaki's Ocean Beach Deli, near the couple's home.

Pappas hadn't heard about Pattillo's death until today. And while he didn't recall ever seeing Owens, he remembered Pattillo fondly. "She was very friendly calm, she smiled and you know, thank you, have a good day, bye... normal, happy."

KTVU has learned that investigators are now digging deeper into Pattillo's death since Owen's arrest. UCSF also told KTVU that in September Owens was placed on unpaid leave and after an internal investigation, his physician's privileges were revoked on October 31.

"UCSF takes this incident very seriously and urges its entire clinical staff, including physicians, nurses and other care providers , to be alert for signs of opioid misuse by any member of the clinical team and to report any such suspicions confidentially."

Owens declined an interview with KTVU.

His bail is set at close to $2 million dollars. He will be arraigned at the beginning of next week.