One found guilty after pain clinic investigation

By Eddie West Staff Writer

An advanced nurse practitioner has been found guilty in federal court for illegally prescribing opioids medications at a former South Carthage pain clinic, according to federal sources.

From September 2016 through May 2018, Advanced Nurse Practitioner Heather Marks, 43, operated the former Lifeforce Pain and Wellness Clinic, located on Highway 70/Lebanon Highway.

On Monday (June 1) of last week, a federal jury in the Middle District of Tennessee convicted Marks of conspiracy to illegally distribute controlled substances and eight counts of illegally distributing controlled substances, according to federal officials. 

As an advanced nurse practitioner Marks was licensed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to distribute controlled substances. 

Federal officials maintain, the advanced nurse practitioner and others over prescribed highly addictive opioids, including oxycodone and oxymorphone while the clinic was in operation, noting “Marks herself prescribed nearly a million opioid pills to almost 1,000 Lifeforce patients over the course of the conspiracy to patients who were often addicted to illegal drugs.”

Federal officials said, “Marks ignored obvious signs of Lifeforce patients taking illegal drugs at the time she prescribed them opioids, which put these patients in danger of overdosing, as well as further prescribing opioids to Lifeforce patients who she knew were likely selling the opioids on the street.”

Federal officials further note, “Lifeforce patients would often travel hundreds of miles to obtain opioid prescriptions at Lifeforce because they knew Marks would prescribe the opioids they needed to either abuse or sell on the street”.

Marks is scheduled to be sentenced on September 1, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count of conviction. 

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