TUPELO (AP) — A Mississippi hospice doctor has been spared jail time after authorities say he threatened three women who he thought were complaining about his facility on a Web site.

Dr. Paul White, the medical director of the Sanctuary Hospice House, pleaded guilty in state court Monday to one felony count of cyber stalking and six misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting a nurse in the practice of medicine without a license. He was sentenced to two years of probation and fines.

White said he is resigning and will leave as soon as the hospice can find a replacement.

The relatives of several people who died at the hospice claimed that their loved ones were intentionally given lethal doses of narcotics such as morphine.

Marilyn Lehman, a nurse and the facility’s clinical director, was indicted along with White in April, charged with 11 misdemeanor counts of practicing medicine without a license. As part of White’s plea agreement, authorities said he could be called to testify against Lehman.

White was originally charged with 11 misdemeanor counts each of neglect and aiding and abetting the practice of medicine without a license.

Prosecutors said White apparently used e-mails to lash out at those he felt were behind an investigation by the state attorney general into the hospice deaths.

Sherrel Clark, whose grandmother and uncle died at the hospice, told The Associated Press earlier that it appeared White thought she was someone else when he allegedly e-mailed death threats to her.

‘‘It was nasty. I almost died when I read it. I thought, ’This is a psycho,’’’ Clark said.

The profanity-laced e-mails said, among other things, ‘‘hit the road and disappear,’’ and threatened to ‘‘rip your head off’’ if the recipient failed to do so.

An e-mail sent to another person said, ‘‘You’ll never feel the bullet in the back of your head. Maybe a brief flash of light as your brain explodes,’’ according the affidavit.

Clark had accused the facility’s staff of killing her mother but used initials when posting on a blog.

At Monday’s hearing, White acknowledged sending the threatening e-mails, saying he was under the influence of Scotch and sleeping medication.

‘‘I assure everyone that I’m not a violent person,’’ he told the court.

State Attorney General Jim Hood said in an interview Monday that there was no question White made the e-mail threats and signed off on patient pain orders after excessive dosages already were administered by hospice staff. He said the difficult question was one of motive.

Hood said the grand jury that indicted White was presented with several options, including that the hospice deaths were deliberate. He said the grand jurors felt misdemeanor charges were appropriate.

He said experts contacted by his office had reported that 3,000 dosage units of morphine was the highest dosage recorded being given to a patient. He said the investigation determined some hospice patients were receiving much higher amounts, including one who received ‘‘67,000 dosage units … and it was like a poison on the body.’’

‘‘This doctor came by once a week and signed whatever they gave him,’’ Hood said. ‘‘These people were receiving excessive doses and prematurely dying.’’

When the patients reacted to the excessive pain killer ‘‘they would start shaking and that would get family members upset. then they (hospice staff) would start pumping the patient up with more,’’ Hood said. ‘‘They had to know this turned to poison.’’



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