Clinic Supporters Fight Forced Closing

Clinic Supporters Plan to Fight Forced Closing; Roxana Hegeman; Associated Press/HutchNews.com; 2008-01-23. [Discuss this - PRN Hot off the Presses Forum]

See also:
Newsflash - PRN in Kansas, the Journalistic Record (updated frequently)
PRN Rocks the KASBAH - Siobhan Reynolds; 2008-01-18

WICHITA - Patients of an embattled Haysville physician plan to ask a Kansas court Wednesday to block his clinic’s forced closing and appoint a “special master” to oversee its finances.

Dr. Stephen Schneider and his nurse wife, Linda Schneider, were indicted in December on 34 federal charges, including conspiracy, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, health care fraud, illegal money transactions and money laundering.

Supporters of the Schneiders claim the indictment is part of a national effort to crack down on doctors who prescribe pain medication. Schneider’s clinic has remained open while the Schneiders are jailed, with a physician assistant seeing patients and writing prescriptions.

In a motion it plans to file Wednesday on behalf of Schneider’s patients, the New Mexico-based Pain Relief Network will ask a Sedgwick County court to rule that payments from Schneider’s patients for services are legal under Kansas and federal law.

Absent such a ruling, the Pain Relief Network wants the judge to appoint a “special master” to oversee transactions at the clinic until the case against the Schneiders is resolved.

The government has seized the Schneiders’ bank accounts, home and vehicles, and the PRN is concerned that the government might also try to seize payments patients pay to the clinic and thus force the clinic to close.

The Pain Relief Network sued earlier this month for a temporary restraining order to keep the Kansas Board of Healing Arts from suspending Schneider’s license without due process.

A hearing on that injunction was scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 25 at the Sedgwick County Courthouse.

The latest motion, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, argues that the clinic cannot stay open without paying its staff and that many of its patients cannot secure treatment at any other clinic.

Mark Stafford, general counsel for the Board of Healing Arts, said the board is seeking to suspend Schneider’s license not because of the federal indictment, but because it believes Schneider’s continued licensure could harm the public.

Some lawmakers in Topeka questioned Tuesday why Schneider was still able to dispense medication.

Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who heads the Senate Health Care Strategies Committee, said she and other lawmakers also wonder why the board did not pursue its case against the Schneiders earlier.

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