For more on the trial of Dr. Hurwitz, go to John Tierney's blog. Go to TierneyLab »
Posted on 04/23/2007 8:20:23 PM PDT by neverdem
ALEXANDRIA, Va. —William E. Hurwitz, the prominent doctor on trial here for drug trafficking, spent more than two days on the witness stand last week telling a jury why he had prescribed painkillers to patients who turned out to be drug dealers and addicts. But the clearest explanation of his actions — and of the problem facing patients who are in pain — came earlier in the trial.
It occurred, oddly enough, during the appearance of a hostile witness, Dr. Robin Hamill-Ruth, one of the experts who was paid by the federal prosecutors to analyze Dr. Hurwitz’s prescriptions for OxyContin and other opioids.
Dr. Hamill-Ruth, who noted that she never prescribed the highest-strength OxyContin tablet, said some of Dr. Hurwitz’s actions were “illegal and immoral” because he prescribed high doses despite warning signs in patient behavior that the opioids were being resold or misused.
Then, during cross-examination by the defense, Dr. Hamill-Ruth was shown records of a patient who had switched to Dr. Hurwitz after being under her care at the University of Virginia Pain Management Center. This patient, Kathleen Lohrey, an occupational therapist living in Charlottesville, Va., complained of migraine headaches so severe that she stayed in bed most days.
Mrs. Lohrey had frequently gone to emergency rooms and had once been taken in handcuffs to a mental-health facility because she was suicidal. In 2001, after five years of headaches and an assortment of doctors, tests, therapies and medicines,...
-snip--
“You gave her BuSpar and told her to come back in two and a half months?” Richard Sauber, Dr. Hurwitz’s lawyer, asked Dr. Hamill-Ruth. Dr. Hamill-Ruth replied that unfortunately, the clinic was too short-staffed at that point to see Mrs. Lohrey sooner. Under further questioning Dr. Hamill-Ruth said that she was not aware that BuSpar’s side effects included headaches.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
For more on the trial of Dr. Hurwitz, go to John Tierney's blog. Go to TierneyLab »
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I shouldn’t read stories like this when I’m in an arthritis flair. NSAIDS hurt my tummy and opiates hurt my biliary system...and these stories make me ache more! LOL!
God I hate doctors who don’t take pain seriously....maybe coward by over zealous DEA and prosecution.
William E. Hurwitz, the prominent doctor on trial here for drug trafficking, spent more than two days on the witness stand last week telling a jury why he had prescribed painkillers to patients who turned out to be drug dealers and addicts. But... hostile witness, Dr. Robin Hamill-Ruth, ...was shown records of a patient who had switched to Dr. Hurwitz after being under her care at the University of Virginia Pain Management Center. This patient, Kathleen Lohrey, an occupational therapist living in Charlottesville, Va., complained of migraine headaches so severe that she stayed in bed most days... Dr. Hamill-Ruth replied that unfortunately, the clinic was too short-staffed at that point to see Mrs. Lohrey sooner. Under further questioning Dr. Hamill-Ruth said that she was not aware that BuSpar’s side effects included headaches.Apropos of nothing, I really despise hyphenated names (all present company excepted of course).
I hate more the idiots in the DEA and the government who are constantly obsessing over whether someone, somewhere is using a drug recreationally. They will let hundreds of people suffer pain unnecessarily, including terminal patients, to prevent other people from getting high. What a world.
Did you know that some meds come in suppositories? I cannot take anything that will sit on my liver. I spend a lot of time in bed, with my best friend Mr. Heating Pad.
That and a few other fun things.
Uhhh, fun things=ailments, not real fun things LOL!
Having been a chronic pain patient myself, it sounds like this is a rare doctor who understands what someone in daily pain goes through and genuinely desired to help. It looks like he’s being put on the cross by the government because of the actions of a few of his patients, who were bad apples. I truly resent such people because they make it hard on everyone with legitimate issues.
In fields of medicine involving controlled substances, especially addiction medicine and pain medicine, the doctor-patient relationship has been grossly distorted by drug war imperatives imposed by the federal govt through the Controlled Substances Act.................
“The ‘chilling effect’ is the withdrawal, for fear of litigation, by physicians from the appropriate treatment of pain. It is important to note that much of the public health damage here is caused not by the doctors accused of wrongdoing, rather it is caused by doctors-in-good-standing who, faced with a patient in pain and therefore at risk of being targeted by the DEA, modify their treatment in an attempt to avoid regulatory attention.
I guess that means my doctor fears the DEA more than me......
the withdrawal, for fear of litigation, by physicians from the appropriate treatment of painThere is one major problem with health care, and that is a lack of tort reform.
Fixed that for ya buddy.
First one's free.
L
TY
Alrighty then. YOU’re on today’s prayer list!
I have my alternatives, too....but some days I’m just crabby!
why thank you!
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