LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles-area doctor convicted of murder for prescribing pain killers that killed three patients apologized in court Friday but that did little to sway the judge, who sentenced her to 30 years in prison and said she seemed to care more about money than the health of those she treated.

The conviction of Dr. Hsiu-Ying “Lisa” Tseng and her long prison sentence are rare for a doctor.

Minutes before she was sentenced, Tseng apologized in court to the families of her dead patients and others who became addicted to prescription drugs under her care.

“I suffer every day from the impact and I will do everything I can to take responsibility,” she said. “I have learned a very hard lesson on this that will stay with me forever.”

In handing down the harsh sentence, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli said he found it egregious that Tseng continued to write reckless prescriptions even after learning her patients were dying.

“(She’s) a person who seemingly did not care about the lives of her patients in this case but rather appeared more concerned about distributing dangerous controlled substances in an assembly line fashion so as to collect payments which amounted to her amassing several million dollars,” Lomeli said.

The mother of two children will be over 70 before she has a chance at release.

Tseng had asked Lomeli for a 15-year prison term.

Tseng prescribed “crazy, outrageous amounts of medication” to patients who didn’t need the pills, Deputy District Attorney John Niedermann told jurors during her trial.

Twelve of Tseng’s patients died but she was charged with just three murders because other factors were involved in the other deaths, including drugs prescribed by other doctors and a possible suicide.