Court Orders New Trial for (Pain) Doctor - (AP-Wash Post)

[ovidsen]

Court Orders New Trial for Doctor

By LARRY O'DELL
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 9:37 PM

RICHMOND, Va. -- A doctor convicted of drug trafficking for prescribing massive doses of OxyContin and other painkillers to his patients will get a new trial.

William E. Hurwitz, a prominent pain specialist, was convicted in 2004 of 50 counts, including conspiracy and drug trafficking resulting in a patient's fatal overdose. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082201211.html

7 years ago, my wife was hit by a truck. The accident fractured her back and left her permanently disabled. Dr. Hurwitz treated her with understanding and compassion until he was arrested.

He was railroaded as part of the Bush Justice Department "War on Drugs".

[MADem]

1. Wow, sorry about your wife

Maybe she could offer to testify on his behalf at his new trial?

[ovidsen]

3. Defense witnesses were muzzled at the first trial

The prosecutors didn't care that Hurwitz was helping hundreds of people cope with agonizing and intractible pain. They made every effort to block evidence showing that dosages of opioids that might kill a 'normal' person allowed his patients to lead normal and productive lives. They convinced jurors that anyone prescribing that many opioids must be a trafficker. He was sentenced to prison over the pleas of his patients.

In poignant letters to Judge (Leonard) Wexler, who has fairly wide latitude in punishing Hurwitz now that the U.S. Supreme Court has made federal sentencing guidelines merely advisory, dozens of his former patients recount how he saved them from constant agony caused by migraines, back injuries, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and other painful conditions that left them disabled, homebound, despondent, and in some cases suicidal. They outline the difficulties they had in getting adequate treatment before they found Hurwitz and the trouble they've been having since the government put him out of business.
http://www.reason.com/sullum/040105.shtml

I suppose Judge Wexler thought he was doing Dr. Hurwitz a favor when he sentenced him to 25 years. He could have gotten life.

I guess you can tell that I take this case very personally.

edit: spelling

[MADem]

4. I cannot say as I blame you

Perhaps she will be permitted to testify in this retrial?

We, as a nation, behave like nitwits when it comes to pain management. I cannot fathom why we see any virtue in suffering, or any harm in relieving agony.

[Nozebro]

7. "anyone prescribing that many opioids must be a trafficker.

Any Government that prescribes arresting physicians or anyone else because of drugs must be a Government that doesn't believe in freedom, individual responsibility, liberties, or especially the Bill of Rights.

[warrens]

2. This is great news

I have chronic kidney stone problems, and it's getting ridiculous. I was in the ER a couple of weeks ago and they gave me about a fifth of what was necessary, then watched me. My BP stayed through the roof. So they gave me a bit more. Then a while later, a bit more. I was in agony for an hour while they covered their asses.

Finally, a real doctor took over, gave me a shot, and the thing passed. I was there for four hours in a great deal of pain because they are so worried that the gummint will come in and second guess them, like this case.

[ninkasi]

5. I am so sorry to hear about your wife

Some people do not understand what chronic pain can be like. You have to stop making definite plans for many things, because some days are better than others, and you don't know what the next day will be like. You don't know if you'll be able to sleep. You hate to invite people to come over, because you might not be able to see them. You begin to feel like a burden to your family, because you can't do the things you used to be able to do. You get so depressed, because the thought of living the rest of your life in this agony feels like a prison sentence.

This ridiculous attitude toward pain medication is causing much, much unneeded suffering. The thing many don't understand, is that people who have to take massive amounts of pain killers just to function do not get "high" in the sense that people who take drugs just to get that high do. I really hope that your wife is able to find another doctor who can help her manage her pain. This is so senseless, the government is targeting the wrong people.

[ovidsen]

8. You have to be there

You have to either be a chronic pain patient or live under the same roof with one to understand how opioid therapy can turn a life around. I'm guessing you fit into one of those categories.

The Justice Department lawyers found it easy to convince the jurors in this case that anybody prescribing as many pain killers as Dr. Hurwitz must be a "Dr. Feelgood". The jurors simply could not grasp the fact (as you and I can) that a pain victim who's taking large amounts of OxyContin or Percocets or whatever isn't doing it to get high, and in fact doesn't even FEEL high... they feel (gasp!) normal! And they certainly didn't understand that a drug regimen that might be fatal to a "normal" person is perfectly legitimate and even theraputic for a pain patient who over time has built up a tolerance to painkillers. The feds slandered the doctor to make brownie points; simple as that.

What really infuriates me is how the Bush Justice Department has tried to make Dr. Hurwitz into a pariah, a scapegoat and a shallow example of their "vigor" in the "war on drugs", with hardly a thought about the health and welfare of his patients.

My wife's found alternative sources for the medication she needs. I'm not sure all of them are legal in the Bush justice world, and they're less convenient and more expensive to boot... but you gotta do what you gotta do...

Thank you for your thoughts. We both appreciate them.

[Wiley50]

6. Virginia Is Hell For Chronic Pain Patients

I have chronic degenerative disk disease ( 10 disks) and chronic progressive nerve damage. I have been on the Duragesic (fentanyl) patch for three years. As long as I take it easy, the patch allows me to be mostly free of pain and have a life.
My disability came through last summer after a 3 1/2 year wait with legal help. It is only SSI disability and only pays $603 a month, but they owed me all of the arrear age payments. After I paid my attorney, I had several thousand left over and thought it best to buy a home outright as that's the only way I could see to maybe live on what I get. As a sailor for 30 years, I had a plan. I bought a 28 ft sailboat on Ebay that was located at the eastern end of Long Island. I live in TN, but had friends in Va and planned to sail the boat there and live on the coast. I did so. Made the voyage just fine.

But finding a doctor in Va to keep me on my patches proved to be impossible. I saw 3 doctors in four months and had to keep traveling back to TN monthly to see my doctor here to stay on my meds while I looked for a doctor in VA.

The first two outright lied to me and said they never prescribed opioid narcotics to anyone under any circumstance. As these were all pain management specialists and treated terminal cancer patients, I knew they were lying.

The third doctor leveled with me. He said that because of the DEA, The Va Medical Board and what happened to Dr. Hurwitz doctors in Va are scared to death to provide opiates for chronic pain. They are afraid of losing their prescribing license, or worse, prosecution and imprisonment..

In the end I had to go to the expense and trouble of trailering my boat back to Tn and am stuck here unable to get farther than I can get back to see my doctor here every 30 days.

I feel for Dr Hurwitz and hope he wins his new trial.

Advocacy help can be found at American Pain Foundation
Get on their newsletter list.
They are fighting to get the laws changed.

[Corgigal]

10. I know exactly what you're talking about

This is how we found the right doctor for my husband. He called DHEC ( South Carolina Dept of Health and Environmental Control)directly and asked to speak to the person in charge. We already had his name so my husband just asked for him. Then my husband told him his circumstance, hit by a car on purpose by a fleeing felon in the commission of a Domestic disturbance. Constant pain victim with other physical ailments along the way.

The man was shocked that a patient contracted them. He called around and returned our call the next day, gave my husband 3 good pain Doctors in our area. His current Doc implanted a morphine pump that gets re-filled every two months and his quality of life is much better. This same Doc laughed when we explained how my husband found him. Loves that story to this day.

Don't waste you time running around with these pain docs. Called the controlling state agency.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. This will sound cold blooded but report doctors who wont treat your pain

to the state medical board. It doesnt matter if the doctors are scared of the state medical board. They have an obligation to treat your pain . Anyone can file a complaint with a state medical board for anything. If you believe that a doctor is under medicating you for fear of losing his license oftprosecution, report him and let the State Board figure out who the hell it wants to please, the Bush administration or a bunch of angry tax payers.

BTW in California, doctors have been sued for providing too little pain medication to terminal patients. So these laws vary from state to state.

Also, Rush Limbaugh is the reason that the south is rethinking the criminalization of prescription pain meds.

[pitohui]

9. it sounds like a terrible miscarriage of justice

the prosecution of doctors for prescribing needed pain medication does much harm

i hope your wife is able to obtain adequate pain medication elsewhere and i also hope that the doctor will soon be fully vindicated

i'm very angered by this persecution of doctors who are fighting to relieve pain

there are too many doctors in louisiana as well afraid to give sufficient pain medicine to people, even if they are dying, the chilling effect of this persecution is probably nationwide

[ovidsen]

11. That's just what it is. Persecution.

I'm sure there are doctors who perscribe pain medications irresponsibly. Always has been; always will be. But the Bush Justice Department has made it a policy to prosecute MDs if even a small percentage of the medication they approve ends up in "the wrong hands" without their knowledge or approval.

Of course, this has a chilling effect on doctors who are now afraid to prescribe any serious pain medication to anyone, because they could be arrested, lose their MD license and go to jail... just for doing the right thing.

Persecution and intimidation... all so that the Bushbots can crow about how they're winning the "war on drugs".

[hedgehog]

12. My mother suffers episodes of chronic and acute pain

Make that excruciating, I thought she might be having a heart attack! I think the pain is tied to aging processes in her spinal column, but she's not a good candidate for surgery. I just wish someone somewhere could give her medication that would control the pain without doping her. If heroin would help her, I'd go down and get the dose today! This War on Drugs has been a farce since I was in high school back in 1972!

[brentspeak]

14. I bet if Judge Wexler and the perse -- sorry, the PROSecutors --themselves

had to deal with severe chronic pain, they wouldn't hesitate to go through every back-channel way to obtain as much Oxycontin as they wanted. And then their buddies in high places would pull strings to ensure they didn't have to deal with the legal consequences.

[happyslug]

15. Here is the opinion of the Appellant Court

http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/054474.P.pdf