Posts Tagged With: legitimate practice

Dr. Sharon Johnston comes to this Court having been convicted of a crime that does not exist, by a court without jurisdiction to enter a conviction, and affirmed by a court that did not confirm that it had jurisdiction to do so and – worse yet – blatantly attempted to “bury” its decision through depublication… This entire proceeding has been indelibly painted with the bright and unmistakable color of unconstitutional outcome-driven caprice.

In pain medicine we have the deeply disturbing situation that what most doctors do (medical community norm) is at odds with, and clearly below, the medical standard of care. Literally, in the treatment of chronic pain, an ethical physician attempting to practice in good faith, according to the clinical literature, is an outlier deviating from how most reputable physicians would practice.

The nonprofit Pain Relief Network (PRN) says the guidelines for prescribing narcotics, written by the Washington state Department of Health and published in March 2007, have influenced pain treatment across the country and have made doctors afraid to give opiate prescriptions. Siobhan Reynolds, PRN president, says the group decided to target WA because the state has been a leader both in pain treatment and in restricting doctors’ prescriptions of pain relief medication. [...]

Dr. Schneider’s pretrial motions to dismiss on constitutional grounds, and his motions for abstention have been filed, as has the Government’s opposition to those motions, and Dr. Schneider’s response to the Government’s opposition. As I understand it, now we wait for rulings by the Judge. The relevant briefs, and the Order releasing Dr. Schneider on bond and setting conditions on that release, are linked to, below.

This Resource Is an article by Dr. Frank Fisher published in the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin. He recounts his tale of persecution for practicing excellent pain management – a quintessencial example of the War on Doctors and the Pain Crisis in America.

This Resource Is a peer-reviewed analysis of Gonzalez v Oregon. “If the U.S. Attorney General had won this case, DOJ, through the DEA, would have been given the authority to make decisions about the legality of prescriptions in all situations, not just end-of-life care.” After analyzing the Supreme Court decision, Brushwood reviews DEA identification of physicians and pharmacists despite information obtained from a Freedom of Information Act by Joranson documenting DOJ knowledge of massive theft and loss of controlled substances having nothing to do with the doctor – patient relationship. He also reviews the DEA FAQ debacle, the “Myth of …

Blog post about the Federal raid and indictment of three Pensacola, Florida physicians “on charges that they illegally dispensed prescription drugs.” Operation “Doc-in-a-Box”, huh? How positively cute…

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT – DISTRICT OF KANSAS PAIN RELIEF NETWORK, on behalf of patients of Stephen J. Schneider, D.O., Plaintiff,
[Uzo L. Ohaebosim, Attorney for Plaintiff; 510 N. Main; Wichita, KS 67214; 316-261-5400]
vs.
THE STATE OF KANSAS, THE KANSAS STATE BOARD OF HEALING ARTS, MICHAEL MUKASEY, in his official capacity as United States Attorney General; ERIC F. MELGREN, in his official capacity as the United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, and THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendants.

VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER PURSUANT TO FED.R. CIV.P. 65(b)…

Article from Yakima Herald Journal (Washington state) about Dr. Rosa Martinez who was found not guilty of drug charges in Federal prosecution in December 2007; Dr. Martinez continues to fight for her professional life, and for her patients.

Blog post drawing attention to Radley Balko’s late August article on Fox website which is a very thorough review of this important case in the modern war on doctors. See the Rottschaefer archives linked to above for key legal briefs in addition to high points in the journalistic record. Links to archives on Dr. Hurwitz, Dr. McIver.

Blog post about: Dr. William Mangino remains incarcerated awaiting sentencing which is scheduled for August 8th in Newcastle, PA. Contact information: 1) Address to write to Mangio in jail provided; 2) address and instructions to contribute to Mangino Defense Fund provided. In my next post on the Mangio case, I want to consider in more depth issues raised by the defense’s Omnibus Motion, entitled, Motion For a Directed Verdict of Not Guilty Or In the Alternative, Request For Additional Jury Instructions, especially the section of that document that addresses the Jury Instructions given at trial.

Blog post about the Prescription Drug Diversion Prosecutions – Quick Reference Card 2002 for which a link to full text PDF is provided. Tina Rosenberg, in her recent cover story for the New York Times Magazine, makes direct reference to the Cheat Sheet in the following paragraphs excerpted from that article. It really is fascinating in a stomach-turning sort of way. Enjoy!

First of a series of blog posts regarding the trial of pain doctor William Mangino. Excerpt: “The prosecution asked only one question on cross examination of defense expert Dr. Tennant. The prosecution brought forth no further expert testimony. The defense felt Tennant’s testimony was sufficiently strong and his credibility and professional stature so huge relative to the prosecution expert, and that the prosecution had failed to make it’s case. And so on 2007-07-03, the defense choose not to call it’s second defense expert (myself) and choose not to put Dr. Mangino on the stand, and rested.”

War on Doctors/Pain Crisis blog post about the Amicus Curia brief in support of Dr. McIver’s Writ of Certiori to the Supreme Court. Link to full text PDF of the brief.

Press release from the Pain Relief Network Re: moral victory in St. Thomas in the case of Dr. Maynard, who was sentenced to 7 months which was less than sentencing guidelines.

Blog post about the case of Dr. Volkman, a highly credentialed and experienced physician, a vocal critic of the DEA, who has been actively fighting them in the courts for a year and a half. But this isn’t part of the Associated Press press coverage which have been pure drug war trash journalism giving a very one-sided prosecutorial view of the case. This post provides background on Dr. Volkman and the history of his struggles with the DEA, all ignored by the Associated Press.

Blog post about ongoing excellent journalistic coverage of retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz on drug trafficking charges. Lots of links by Szalavitz, Balko, Tierney and to Ken Moore’s recent Pain Doctor’s Trial, and to collections of related resources including reader comments in response to Hurwitz coverage.

Letter from the Hurwitz family to the Pain Relief advocacy community reviewing Dr. Hurwitz’ retrial in great detail, noting the excellent work of their pro bono attorneys Sauber and Rollins and their offices.

Mary Baluss, Esq., gives a quick rundown of the charges Dr. Hurwitz was found guilty of, those not guilty, and those charges dismissed.

Brief excerpt and link to full text of John Tierney blog entry regarding the verdict in the retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz. “One of the jurors left the courthouse in tears, and others whom I talked to said it had been a wrenching decision for all of them because they believed Dr. Hurwitz was a compassionate doctor.”