Jim
12-17-2004, 08:38 AM
Prominent Northern Virginia pain management specialist Dr. William Hurwitz was viewed as a savior by his patients, some of whom traveled hundreds of miles to see him, but a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, yesterday found him guilty of being a drug dealer. After six weeks of testimony and four days of deliberations, the jury convicted Dr. Hurwitz on 50 counts of a 62-count indictment, acquitted him on nine others, and was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining three counts.
On the orders of presiding Judge Leonard Wexler, the nationally known pain treatment pioneer was immediately hustled off to jail. In the best case -- assuming the verdicts will be overturned on appeal -- Dr. Hurwitz will probably spend between two and three years behind bars. In the worst case, he will die in prison as a convicted drug dealer.
Testimony showed that Dr. Hurwitz had prescribed huge amounts of opioid pain relievers to his patients, some of whom diverted some of them to the black market. But expert defense witnesses testified that while Dr. Hurwitz's prescriptions might appear outlandish to medical novices, in reality they were in line with accepted medical practice in opioid pain treatment.
The case has focused national attention on the increasingly heated dispute between federal law enforcers and pain care advocates over whether aggressive opioid pain treatment is good medicine or criminal drug-dealing. In recent years, dozens of doctors across the country have been subjected to criminal trials for prescribing pain pills, while hundreds more have been taken before state medical boards. The contradiction between the imperatives of pain management and those of drug law enforcement has only heightened this year, as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the federal drug czar, John Walters, unleashed a campaign against prescription drug diversion and abuse.
Hurwitz patients and pain treatment advocates attended the trial and reacted to the verdict with anger and disappointment. "I just feel very sad, very bad for Billy and the Hurwitz family," said Siobhan Reynolds, director of the Pain Relief Network (http://www.painreliefnetwork.org), a leading advocacy group for pain patients and doctors. "It is really frightening to see this whole federal drug apparatus go into high gear to destroy that which it has targeted. To watch what is really a cynical political prosecution being carried out in what used to be our hallowed courts is really distressing," she told DRCNet. "We are so far away from our original ideals. We are letting federal law enforcement regulate medicine through the criminal courts and allowing the opinions of prosecutors to override the medical judgments of highly trained physicians. If this doesn't serve as a wake-up call, then I don't know what does."
Unsurprisingly, US Attorney Paul McNulty, whose office prosecuted the case, had a different take. "This sends a major message to anyone who would use the treatment of pain as a cover for being a drug trafficker," he told reporters after the verdicts were read.
Reynolds agreed that the verdict sent a strong message, but said that message was one that would result in people in chronic pain going untreated. "Any doctor encountering a patient in pain will now run for the hills," she said. "We are already hearing reports of doctors saying they will be more punitive with patients who make them nervous. This is a public health disaster. Twenty years ago, many doctors were afraid to treat patients with AIDS, and the government took steps to ease that fear. In this case, we have the same sort of public health catastrophe, but instead of helping the problem, the government is only exacerbating it." full sad article (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/367/50counts.shtml)
On the orders of presiding Judge Leonard Wexler, the nationally known pain treatment pioneer was immediately hustled off to jail. In the best case -- assuming the verdicts will be overturned on appeal -- Dr. Hurwitz will probably spend between two and three years behind bars. In the worst case, he will die in prison as a convicted drug dealer.
Testimony showed that Dr. Hurwitz had prescribed huge amounts of opioid pain relievers to his patients, some of whom diverted some of them to the black market. But expert defense witnesses testified that while Dr. Hurwitz's prescriptions might appear outlandish to medical novices, in reality they were in line with accepted medical practice in opioid pain treatment.
The case has focused national attention on the increasingly heated dispute between federal law enforcers and pain care advocates over whether aggressive opioid pain treatment is good medicine or criminal drug-dealing. In recent years, dozens of doctors across the country have been subjected to criminal trials for prescribing pain pills, while hundreds more have been taken before state medical boards. The contradiction between the imperatives of pain management and those of drug law enforcement has only heightened this year, as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the federal drug czar, John Walters, unleashed a campaign against prescription drug diversion and abuse.
Hurwitz patients and pain treatment advocates attended the trial and reacted to the verdict with anger and disappointment. "I just feel very sad, very bad for Billy and the Hurwitz family," said Siobhan Reynolds, director of the Pain Relief Network (http://www.painreliefnetwork.org), a leading advocacy group for pain patients and doctors. "It is really frightening to see this whole federal drug apparatus go into high gear to destroy that which it has targeted. To watch what is really a cynical political prosecution being carried out in what used to be our hallowed courts is really distressing," she told DRCNet. "We are so far away from our original ideals. We are letting federal law enforcement regulate medicine through the criminal courts and allowing the opinions of prosecutors to override the medical judgments of highly trained physicians. If this doesn't serve as a wake-up call, then I don't know what does."
Unsurprisingly, US Attorney Paul McNulty, whose office prosecuted the case, had a different take. "This sends a major message to anyone who would use the treatment of pain as a cover for being a drug trafficker," he told reporters after the verdicts were read.
Reynolds agreed that the verdict sent a strong message, but said that message was one that would result in people in chronic pain going untreated. "Any doctor encountering a patient in pain will now run for the hills," she said. "We are already hearing reports of doctors saying they will be more punitive with patients who make them nervous. This is a public health disaster. Twenty years ago, many doctors were afraid to treat patients with AIDS, and the government took steps to ease that fear. In this case, we have the same sort of public health catastrophe, but instead of helping the problem, the government is only exacerbating it." full sad article (http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/367/50counts.shtml)