Dr. Volkman Speaks Against DEA in April - Gets Indicted in May

Pain Doc Volkman Speaks Out Against DEA in April - Gets Indicted in May; Alexander DeLuca; War on Docs/Pain Crisis; 2007-05-26.

In the previous item on this blog I excerpted some Comments posted by Dr. Paul Volkman to TierneyLab on April 1st, 2007 regarding a blog entry by Mr. Tierney about the retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz. [see: Dr. Volkman: Why DEA Goes After Pain Docs]

Then, on May 22, 2007, we get this Associated Press story: Ohio Doctor Indicted in Drug Deaths:

“[Dr. Volkman] and two office managers have been charged with illegally distributing excessive amounts of a powerful painkiller and other drugs, leading to the deaths of at least 14 people… A grand jury returned [a federal] indictment that was unsealed Tuesday [May 22, 2007]… All three were arrested Monday.

“They are accused of distributing more than 1.5 million pain pills between 2001 and 2006 while working out of southern Ohio clinics in Portsmouth and South Point… Volkman is suspected of writing prescriptions for excessive dosages or prescriptions for patients who did not need the drugs…”

Before I go into the background of Dr. Volkman’s case, let me first do just a smidgen of FLASH TRASH analysis:

1.5 million pills / 5 years = 300,000 pills per year.

If ‘pain treatment’ = 4 pills/day of opioid, a ‘pain’ pt is prescribed 1440 pills/yr.

300,000 pills/yr divided by 1400 pills/patient equals 208.3 patients getting ‘opioid pain’ treatment per year equals 1.75 patients per day.

SO: merely prescribing 4 pills/day to 2 chronic pain patients/day is more than 1.5 million pills over 5 years.
[see also: Modern Examples of Flash Trash in Table Format]

Background: The Case of Dr. Paul Volkman

Dr. Paul Volkman was a medical pain management doctor in southern Ohio, when on February 10, 2006, the DEA raided his office, seizing confidential medical records. His office was ransacked, as was his bank account. As was the bank account of his librarian wife. His license to prescribed controlled substances was suspended. Then, for over 18 months, no criminal charges were filed against him.

Until May 2007, one month after he denounced the DEA on TierneyLab. Suddenly, the traditional ‘initial media smear’ (drug war Trash Journalism) is in full swing with a second AP writer weighing in to give a one-sided prosecutorial view of the case. [Government Seeks To Recover $10 Million From 'Pill Mill' Operators; Terry Kinney; AP; 2007-05-27]

So far no national journalist has thought it an important part of the story that Dr. Volkman is certified by the American Academy of Pain Management, that he has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and extensive Clinical Pharmacology experience, and a quarter century of experience in Emergency Medicine, Family Practice and Pediatrics. Or that he prided himself on careful monitoring of his chronic pain patients on opioid therapy including frequent drug testing, demanded his patients keep their medicine in a safe and dismissed them if their medicine was reported “stolen”.

So far the professional press hasn’t bothered to report that Dr. Volkman was involved in “expedited” DEA hearings regarding the suspension of his DEA licensure, and now suddenly criminal charges are filed. Or that Dr. Volkman felt confident he would prevail in these hearings, that the evidence against him was unreliable hearsay obtained illegally.

While dutifully recording every accusation and innuendo from any level of law enforcement official against him, the Associated Press apparently doesn’t find it newsworthy that Dr. Volkman’s attorney, Kevin Byers, filed a motion in March (about one month before the TierneyLab Comments and about two months before the criminal indictments) requesting relief from the oppressive administrative and legal “process” DEA was imposing on him in his efforts to get his licensure and livelihood restored. From, PETITIONER’S VERIFIED PETITION FOR REVIEW OF THE FEBRUARY 13, 2006, IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF PETITIONER’S DEA REGISTRATION PURSUANT TO 5 USC §701 ET SEQ., WITH PRAYERS FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF:

“The government will certainly answer by alleging that Dr. Volkman must await a “final” determination from the Deputy Administrator and then appeal that under 21 USC §877. However, 5 USC §703 provides that “inadequacy” of an established process for judicial review will justify “any applicable form of legal action” to seek a timely remedy. As outlined infra, and as more fully anticipated in future briefs and argument, Petitioner asserts that the “remedy” available by awaiting further notification from the Deputy Administrator is illusory and wholly inadequate given the facts and history of this particular case.”

Isn’t this part of the story, Associated Press? Or that Dr. Volkman has a separate federal case against his assets, a so called Forfeiture in Rem case and that he has filed a 12B6 motion to dismiss which his attorneys felt had a good chance of success?

Dr. Volkman is a highly credentialed and experienced physician, a vocal critic of the DEA, who has been actively fighting them in courts for a year and a half. Isn’t that part of the story, Associated Press?

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