Defense attorneys for the 84-year-old man busted for flooding Manhattan with opioids — earning him the moniker “Oxy Doc” — are begging a judge to allow their client to remain out on bond as they appeal his 22-year sentence on grounds that imprisonment will hasten his already imminent death.

“This sentence is draconian,” lawyer Ronald Russo told Brooklyn federal Judge Raymond Dearie on Tuesday, as his aged and ailing client, Martin Tesher, sat at the defense table. “It’s a life sentence, a death sentence.”

The former Dr. Tesher surrendered his medical license earlier this year after a jury found him guilty of illegally prescribing more than 2.2 million oxycodone pills and other opioids.

“It’s likely that unless he’s granted compassionate release, he’ll die in jail,” Russo said of his client, whose prescribing habits led to the overdose death of a 26-year-old Staten Island man. “He is in end-stage renal failure.”

Meanwhile, prosecutor Jennifer Sasso noted that Tesher has not shown “an ounce of remorse” for his crimes.

“Not once has there been a semblance of an apology,” she said.

Dearie declined to immediately rule on whether he would allow Tesher to remain out — though his comments hinted that he could be leaning in that direction.

“I think it’s almost a matter of common sense,” Dearie said, referencing Tesher’s ailing health. “The level of care will suffer.”

Dearie announced he’ll issue a ruling in the coming days.