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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.

Shaygan’s attorney Markus discovered that govt prosecutors authorized two witnesses to surreptitiously record conversations with the defense team and attempt to bribe Markus, and failed to disclose that the witnesses were paid, confidential informants for the DEA. U.S. District Judge Gold said there were “flagrant violations” of basic rules by Shaygan’s prosecutors, and that “important safeguards were not met.” An order from Gold is expected in a few weeks.

Wow. To win acquittal on federal drug trafficking charges is very difficult and very rare, as I have [discussed before][rm]. A resounding win is almost unheard of. I will be very interested in the outcome of the prosecutorial misconduct case being brought by Dr. Shaygan’s defense attorney, Mr. Markus.

criticisms and description of federal prosecutorial behavior rings true to me from my experience and knowledge of war on docs/pain crisis cases. Our justice system is withering, ‘the drugs exception to the Bill of Rights’ has gone from being a tragic lawyers joke to business as usual, and we now routinely apply asset forfeiture and RICO laws, intended by Congress to combat drug cartels, to individual pain-treating physicians. Doctors and sick people are easy, profitable prey for law enforcement and federal prosecutors pandering to the electorate through a media willing to be exploited for their share of the spoils.

Article from PascoTribune, including video interview of Paey, about Paey’s readjustment to live out of prison as a pardoned chronic pain patient. Permalink:

Article by Dr. DeLuca regarding Jacob Sullum\’s comments about a recent SAMHSA analysis showing low addiction rates for most substances of abuse, and also discusses Hurwitz\’ excellent 2005 analysis of Government data, the peer reviewed

When prosecutors want to convict a doctor of “drug dealing,” they often sow suspicions by alerting the media. But in a Kansas case, they appear to be fighting dirty by trying to prevent the other side from speaking out. [...]

This is it, tomorrow is the day, and I am at once elated and anxious. Tomorrow, the petition for clemency for 48 year old Richard Paey, a wheelchair-bound Florida man with failed back syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis, and a morphine pump in his spine courtesy of the State of Florida Dept. of Corrections, will be heard.

Blog post about phone conversation with incarcerated Dr. William Hurwitz about recent prescription drug propaganda, and about a planned government appeal of his sentence, in which case the Hurwitz Defense would appeal the conviction.

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.

Excerpt: “Veterans in chronic pain average less than 4 Percosets a day from the compassionate care-givers of the Veterans Administration… [Such low-potency opioids] are indicated for mild to moderate acute pain, not chronic moderate to severe persistent pain… Oxycodone is a short acting opioid in this preparation, with an effective duration of action of about three hours. One pill every six hours of oxycodone/acetaminophen for chronic pain guarantees that the patient will be in unacceptable pain 50 percent of the time, at best. That’s not treatment, it’s under-treatment; it could not possibly be adequate.”

What Rep. Harrell has succeeded in creating is a prescription monitoring program (PMP) – a networked computer database system linking prescription-originating physicians offices with dispensing pharmacies… [She] would have spent the people’s time and money far more effectively had she mandated a prescription monitoring program where it would do significant good, inside hospitals where 0.32% of all admissions suffer fatal Adverse Drug Reactions. And hospitals would be far better able to protect against needless invasion of privacy than a loose network of doctors and pharmacies linked “through the private enterprise system,” as reassuring a ring as that might have to …

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.

Collection of observations, analysis, and Comments from the PRN advocacy community, John Tierney, David Borden and other professional and non-professional analysts of the war on doctors on the retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz. I will be adding to this collection over the next few days especially, and will be including testimonials from former Hurwitz patients and family of patients. Check the Collected Observations / Analysis of Court Proceedings, Jury Deliberations, and Verdict in the Retrial of Dr. William Hurwitz for newly added documents.

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 …