AG Tom Corbett’s Mini Reign of Terror

AG Corbett’s Mini Reign of Terror - 3 Docs in 7 Days!; Alex DeLuca; War on Doctors/Pain Crisis; Pain Relief Network; 2007-07-01. [Note: Subsequent to publication, edits made, last paragraph, in brown type - 2007-07-01, 10:08 PM, NYC]

Thanks to Alex Coolman of the most excellent Drug Law Blog for snagging yet another AG Tom Corbett war on doctors case that had slipped by me. (See: More Indictments, Arrests of Doctors). I think this makes three unrelated doc scalps for Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett in a neat seven days. Wow. Impressive.

I have reviewed several of these cases in some initial depth in recent posts here, including, AG Tom Corbett Bags Another Dangerous Doc, about the current Dr. Zampogna case (which also reviews the AG’s role and performance in Dr. Heberle’s victory), and, Tom Corbett: Jailer of Healers and the Sick which focuses on the current Dr. Kansky case. I will not review these further, here.

The case brought to our attention by Drug Law Blog concerns Dr. Elevyn Sabugo. From the AP via The Philadelphia Inquirer of 2007-06-20, comes this brief article, 69-year-old PA Doctor Accused of Selling Pain Pill Prescriptions:

A 69-year-old doctor accused of operating a “pill-mill”… was indicted on federal drug charges [accused of having] sold prescriptions for Oxycontin and Percoset painkillers and the amphetamine Adderall, W. R. Hocker, a DEA spokesman, said Tuesday. Sabugo’s attorney, Brian T. McMonagle, said “[Dr. Sabugo] vehemently denies the charges.” Sabugo was indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and health care fraud. The indictment Tuesday said she issued 163 prescriptions for more than 3,000 pills to one couple over a two-year span…

Once again, that is the entire meat of the charges in the initial media smear. Unlike the other two cases, these accusations include some numbers meant to be ’sensational.’ Simple, gee-whiz, numbers demand the application of simple algebra! And Flash Trash analysis doesn’t get any simpler than this:

3000 pills / 2 patients = 1500 pills per patient / 2 years = 750 pills per patient per year / 365 days per year = 2 pills / day / patient.

So, “3,000 pills to one couple over a two-year span” (gasp!) amounts to 1 pill twice a day for each patient of the couple for two years. This is a “pill-mill”? (sheesh!)

All three of these cases are weak on their face. All we have to go on are the initial smears from the AG’s office, and still these seem weak. I have discussed a little, in my blog entries linked above, what the method behind Corbett’s madness might be.

Maybe one of our readers, more aware of PA politics and the politics of AG Corbett than I, can enlighten us as to what exactly he thinks he is doing, what he hopes to accomplish for whom, by dragging these three nothing cases through the (expensive, federal) criminal mud. [The following added subsequent to publication earlier today]. This last sentence is misleading if it implies that all three cases under discussion are federal. Dr. Sabugo was indicted on federal charges. I believe the prosecutions against Zampogna and Kansky are state, though that is not absolutely clear from the AG’s press releases and related news accounts. [added: 2007-07-01 10:07PM, NYC]

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