Posts Tagged With: prosecution

The treatment of chronic pain is an issue of national importance. If petitioner’s conviction is allowed to stand then any single opioid prescription can be called into question based upon misconceptions which should not be allowed to permeate the atmosphere of The American Courtroom.

Review of the outcome of the Shaygan Govt Misconduct hearings in which Dr. Shaygan’s Govt. Prosecutors concede to witness tampering and violation of discovery obligations to the defense, amongst other offenses. Link to PDF of Govt’s Response brief to Shaygan’s Motions for Sanctions.

Excerpt: “Dr. Mangino has been unjustly prosecuted and convicted in Pennsylvania. His case is unusual. He is currently incarcerated at SCI-Cresson… Essentially, in PA and nationwide, if this conviction is allowed to stand on the grounds presented by prosecution, then any single opioid prescription can be deemed illegal.” — Dr. Mangino

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.

I am very glad to see physicians, who have themselves been savaged by the government, publishing their stories. Consider Dr. Jackson’s article, Conviction without a Crime, to be a companion piece to Dr. Rottschaefer’s article discussed in the previous item here, The Criminal Criminal Justice System. Together these two articles will give the reader a good sense, I think, of the utter breakdown of professional ethics, common sense, and fairness in any case involving controlled substances.

I spoke to Billy’s wife briefly, recently, and am very happy to be able to report that Dr. Hurwitz is no longer in federal prison. He is currently in a half-way house in D.C. and will be transitioning to house arrest as part of his parole and probation requirements… He is in a sort of “titration to house arrest” best I understand it. Meaning, he is starting to get overnight visits with his family – YEA! – and more and more of that till he sort of “stabilizes” on a regimen of maintenance house arrest. (Is house arrest a substitution therapy for …

Update on the case of USA v Dr. Martinez in Washington state. Martinez has been acquitted of all drug crime charges. The fraud charges remaining after her 2007 fed trial have also been dismissed, but the govt can bring the fraud charges anew. Also examined is a recent Yakima Herald article announcing “new” charges that are not, in any reality-based sense, “new” at all.

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.

Talk given by Frank Fisher, M.D.; Drug Cops and Docs, Cato Institute Conference; 2005-09-09. Introduction — The undertreatment of chronic pain is an ongoing public health disaster. The means to reverse this disaster is a class of medications known as opioid analgesics. The pain crisis exists for just one reason. Physicians don’t prescribe enough of these medications. I’m going to explain why we don’t. — The war on drugs has become a war on legal drugs. This exposes physicians to the risk of unwarranted prosecution. In response to this threat, the academic pain establishment has developed a set of standards …

Wichita Eagle article reporting on the release on bond of Dr. Stephen Schneider, Kansas family physician who cares for chronic pain patients.

AP news article about Dr. Schneider, who remains in jail awaiting the outcome of legal wrangling regarding conditions of his release on bond.

Blog post about a legal brief (full text link provided), a Memorandum and Order setting conditions for and releasing Dr. Stephen Schneider pending trial.

Former patients of a federally indicted Haysville doctor say they are being intimidated by the federal government. Stephen and Linda Schneider, of Haysville, are behind bars facing federal charges of over-prescribing narcotic pain medications. The US Attorney is linking the couple to the overdose deaths of 56 patients. Now several Schneider patients say federal agents are forcing their way into their homes without warrants, asking a lot of questions, and even taking items that don’t belong to them.

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…

Patients of a Kansas doctor charged with illegally prescribing painkillers say they have been repeatedly turned away from other medical providers. The eight patients say the doctors fear similar federal prosecution. The patients held a news conference this morning outside the federal courthouse in Wichita. They wanted to draw attention to their plight and the civil lawsuit filed against the government last week on their behalf. [...]

Patients of a physician who is charged with running a “pill mill” linked to 56 overdose deaths plan to sue the government, claiming it has put patients in mortal danger and created a public health disaster by prosecuting the doctor. The lawsuit, which names Attorney General Michael Mukasey, U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren, the state of Kansas and the Kansas Board of Healing Arts as defendants, was to be filed Tuesday by the New Mexico-based Pain Relief Network on behalf of the patients of Dr. Stephen Schneider.

Blog post about the Pain Relief Network, the Dr. Schneider trials in Kansas, PRN\’s favorite music video, and KAKE TV coverage of PRN in Kansas – The Controlled Substances Act is UNCONSTITIONAL. Links to related news items provided.

Associated Press article about legal actions in State Court by the patients of the federally indicted Dr. Schneider, in effort to prevent forced closing of the clinic and consequent abandonment of the pain patients cared for there.

Blog post collection of news articles about the federal prosecution of pain doctor Schneider, the patients consequently abandoned to disabling un-treated pain, and about the legal and PR actions of the Pain Relief Network in support of these patients.

The judge wouldn’t sign the Temporary Restraining Order, but prior to the administrative hearing, our attorney agreed with the KASBAH board attorney to put off acting against Dr. Schneider’s license until we have a full hearing. This means that for the first time since PRN started operating, we were able to actually intervene in the destruction of a clinic and its patients. [...]