Defense attorney Nancy Bartling speaks in Mineola about the George Blatti case. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp

A Nassau judge set bail Wednesday for a former physician accused in the prescription drug deaths of five patients, citing his decision last week to reduce the defendant's murder charges to manslaughter counts.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Francis Ricigliano ruled that George Blatti could be released from jail if he posted $1 million cash, a $5 million insurance company bond or a $5 million surety bond partially secured at 10 percent.

The former Rockville Centre doctor also will have to stay in Nassau County, wear an ankle monitor and surrender his passport, according to the ruling.

Prosecutors have alleged Blatti, 76, caused the deaths of drug-addicted patients between 2016 and 2018 by prescribing them deadly amounts of opioids and other medications.

They have identified the alleged victims as: Geraldine Sabatasso, 50; Michael Kinzer, 44: Robert Mielinis, 55; Sean Quigley, 31; and Diane Woodring, 53.

The Nassau District Attorney's Office has said Blatti got warnings about his prescription practices from insurance companies, pharmacies, state agencies, relatives of patients and even patients themselves.

 But instead of heeding those warnings, Blatti doled out "shocking" quantities of opioids that served no medical purpose, often without an examination, and even to individuals he never met, according to prosecutors. 

Prosecutor Stefanie Palma asked the judge Wednesday to keep Blatti remanded in jail. She said he still faced significant prison time if convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of five people — along with other charges — and had nowhere to go if released.

Blatti was living in a Rockville Centre hotel before his arrest, according to authorities, who've alleged he practiced from the parking lot there and outside a nearby Dunkin' coffee shop. Prosecutors also said that for a while, Blatti used a former RadioShack store in Franklin Square as his makeshift office.

Blatti's attorney, Nancy Bartling, argued for bail by saying that besides the reduction in charges, her client's health was deteriorating and he had been hospitalized at least three times while an inmate at Nassau's jail. She said Blatti suffers from ailments that include prostate cancer, gastrointestinal disease and cataracts.

Bartling also said Blatti wasn't a danger to the community and could live in an apartment above a friend's garage or in an extended-stay hotel where the defense would pre-pay for his housing.

 "He is no longer a licensed physician and his prescription pad no longer exists," she added. 

The defense attorney pointed out that her client, who in 2019 faced a 54-count indictment on charges of selling opioid and amphetamine prescriptions to people without examining them, didn't flee and kept coming to court while knowing prosecutors were pursuing a murder indictment against him.

That 2021 indictment was believed to be the first time in New York that a doctor faced second-degree murder charges under the theory of a defendant acting with depraved indifference to human life.

But Ricigliano rejected that theory last week while reducing Blatti's five murder counts to manslaughter, saying the allegations supported lesser charges when examined in the light most favorable to the prosecution.

Bartling said later Wednesday that she expected her client to post bail in the next couple days after more than 400 days of incarceration, making it easier for the defense to litigate the case.

Nassau District Attorney's Office spokesman Brendan Brosh said prosecutors are reviewing their appellate options in connection with the judge's bail decision.

 Blatti is due in court for a pre-trial hearing June 14. 

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