Posts Tagged With: william hurwitz

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 …

Two poems by Dr. William Hurwitz: “Billy’s Lament” and “The Appeal”; published doctordeluca.com; 2005. I like these poems. I’ve characterized the voice as Dr. Suess Meets Lenny Bruce, and I mean no disrespect to any of these three poets. In these two poems Dr. Hurwitz also reviews his conviction and the basic strategy for his appeal.

Blog post noting date and time of Hurwitz sentencing. Link to full text pdf of the Hurwitz Aid in Sentencing Memorandum: a copy of the sentencing memo that Dr. Hurwitz’s lawyers filed last Friday which requests the court to impose a sentence of time served. The memo was accompanied by some 75 letters that many of you wrote to Judge Brinkema in support of Dr. Hurwitz. Many of the letters were quoted in the sentencing memo. We are grateful to you for your time and effort in writing these letters.

Brief blog post offering suggestions on writing Letters of Support for Dr. William Hurwitz. Judge Brinkema will pass sentence on July 13, 2007. Letters should be addressed to her but sent to Richard Sauber, attorney for Dr. Hurwitz.

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.

Blog post referring to Radley Balko’s ‘Hurwitz ReConvicted.” Some of Mr. Balko’s war on doctors work, especially regarding Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer is reviewed and linked to. The ominous ramifications of these trials on access to relief for chronic pain sufferers is considered.

Blog post of referring to John Tierney’s blog post: ‘Dr. Hurwitz’ Mysterious Motive.’ Ms. Baluss discusses prosecution tactics in the first trial, and rebuts accusations that Dr. Hurwitz was enriching himself as a venal physician.

Siobhan Reynolds, PRN, on the re-conviction of Dr. Hurwitz on federal drug-trafficking charges: “Each time [a war on docs prosecution comes to trial] the lawyers believe that they will be the ones to try the case correctly [within the context of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)], and so do not make the Constitutional challenges that need to be made. The CSA reverses the [usual] presumptions [of innocence] and in essence induces physicians to prescribe drugs that are only nominally legal. After they have done the deed, the Department of Justice gets to come in, with all the force and resources …

“[Hurwitz] crossed the line from a healer to a dealer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi told the jury in closing arguments April 18. Defense lawyers presented testimony from 10 former patients of Hurwitz. The defense portrayed him as a medical pioneer, a caring and courageous doctor who just wanted to help people in unbearable pain.

More observations from Hurwitz retrial watcher Mary Baluss, Esp. Here Mary describes in greater detail the discussion between judge and prosecutors immediately after the Verdict was rendered by the jury.

Brief note from Hurwitz trial watcher M. Baluss, Esq. The verdict is in – Hurwitz convicted on 16 out of the original 59 charges. Worst charges thrown out. Sentencing to follow.

Excerpt: “Bill Hurwitz thought he had an ‘understanding’ with the authorities, he thought, not only was he being totally above board about what he was doing, and apparently told lots of people like me and these people, but he also thought that the authorities were responsibly monitoring his practice as per agreement in a sort of defacto partnership. I think Billy saw his work in part as a demonstration project – an working model of what the Pain societies and ASAM taught in the 90′s (and still do) – a sort of supervised, real life, proof-of-concept study of outpatient chronic …

Blog post regarding expected Hurwitz verdict. Links provided to review TierneyLab and War on Docs/Pain Crisis coverage of the retrial.

Update from the retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz. Jury deliberations continue suggesting a schism is developing.

Blog entry regarding another in a series of articles by New York Times journalist John Tierney about the re-trial of Dr. William Hurwitz. This is my favorite Tierney-on-Hurwitz yet. This one is not so much about the law or courtroom tactics. This one is about people who hurt; bad. About desperate people; dying people. And about the doctor who wasn’t afraid to welcome them; who wasn’t afraid to try and help.

Comment in response to a TierneyLab blog post. Excerpt: “So, regarding the medical treatment of pain in America, we have the deeply disturbing situation that what most doctors do is at odds with and below the ‘standard of care.’ Literally, in the treatment of chronic pain, an ethical physician attempting to practice in good faith how the textbooks say you should practice IS AN OUTLIER, deviating from what most reputable physicians would do.”

Excerpt from Mary Baluss, courtroom observer: “They were given the standard “good faith” instruction which I don’t like since it talks about the honest exercise of “best” professional judgment. But they were also clearly and carefully instructed about the difference between malpractice and drug distribution. They also got the “willful blindness” (ostrich) instruction and were told that it is possible to determine the requisite scienter (knowingly, wilfully) from that.”

Email from Mary Baluss, Esq., to the TPPCD listServ of the NFTP; 10pm, 2004-04-18; updating the advocacy community about the re-trial of Dr. William Hurwitz: “[The judge] granted judgment of acquittal on the three remaining counts that invoked ‘serious bodily harm’ and carried a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years EACH. She also deleted the ‘serious bodily harm’ clause from the government’s conspiracy count, similarly reducing the penalty on conviction. This leaves ‘simple conspiracy’ and some 50 counts of ‘distribution’ (prescribing) without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the bounds of medical practice…”

Impressions of the re-trial of Dr. William Hurwitz by Dr. Alexander DeLuca who witnessed the courtroom proceedings of 2007-04-17, as the trial drew to a close. Excerpt: “Still I was struck, as I always am observing war on docs prosecutions, at how tilted the playing field is, at how much more difficult the defense’s task is. The defense must convince a jury of medical lay people that complicated medical decisions made in very complicated cases were reasonable and well-intended; the prosecution need only sling mud. The former task requires the judge and jury have a medical student level understanding of …

Dr. William Hurwitz concludes an October 2006 letter sent to friends and colleagues to raise money for his defense: “It has been over 20 years since Dr. Portenoy put the issue of opioid treatment of chronic pain on the professional and social agenda. Yet the struggle to set this treatment on a secure legal and social foundation is far from over. Patients continue to suffer, not only from unrelieved pain, but from the suspicion and neglect of a frightened medical community. My case presents an opportunity to establish humane boundaries for pain practice and to expose the …