[nmh]

Something smells here:

"What followed was a legal saga pitting Mr. Paey against his longtime doctor (and a former friend of the Paeys), who denied at the trial that he had given Mr. Paey some of the prescriptions. Mr. Paey maintains that the doctor did approve the disputed prescriptions, and several pharmacists backed him up at the trial. Mr. Paey was convicted of forging prescriptions."

If a doctor DOES prescribe pain medication there is no rational reason to deny to a friend and patient in pain. It doesn't make sense. With all the emphasis on "pain" I suspect the handwriting test for the scripts didn't match the doctor and a pharmacist isn't going to notice the difference.

The man also refused a plea bargain that would have kept him OUT OF JAIL. NO doctor is going to refuse to write a pain prescription but WOULD be leery of a patient that FORGES prescriptions.

[headsonpikes]

If a doctor DOES prescribe pain medication there is no rational reason to deny to a friend and patient in pain. It doesn't make sense

Well, ONE rational reason is to keep his medical license.