Money, *** and Addiction Lead Some Doctors to Sell Prescriptions
A lot of people who end up addicted to medicine never intended to get
that way
Continued diligence is necessary.
Between 2002 and 2006, at least 15 doctors had their licenses
suspended or revoked after being found to have inappropriately
prescribed medicine to patients or written prescriptions knowing the
patient did not intend to use them in a legal manner. And, Sometimes
doctors have addiction issues themselves, too. The doctors are drunk
or high, and their ability to see the larger impact of their decisions
is lost on them.
Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007 ; 06:00 AM
Updated Thursday, July 26, 2007 ; 09:15 AM
Several recent arrests show growing problem of physicians selling
drugs.
Story by Beth Gorczyca Ryan
Email | Bio | Other Stories by Beth Gorczyca Ryan
CHARLESTON -- Next month, Donald Kiser, 49, will make a trip to
federal court in Charleston to learn his future.
The Parkersburg-based doctor with a specialty in emergency and family
medicine pleaded guilty in June to an 18-count indictment charging
that he and two others conspired to distribute and sell three highly
addictive pharmaceuticals -- oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone
(Lortab) and alprazolam (Xanax). Now, Kiser is facing up to 20 years
in prison and a fine of $1 million.
But he's not alone.
In June, Dan Lee Johnson, a Boone County podiatrist, was sentenced to
one to three years in prison and fined $10,000 after he pleaded guilty
to giving out prescription medication, including hydrocodone, to
people who walked into his office.
"He would drive to work, hand a Wal-Mart bag full of prescriptions to
his receptionist and people would come in, pay $80 cash for an office
visit, and then walk out with a prescription," said Cpl. M.T. Smith,
who heads the 2-year-old drug diversion unit with the West Virginia
State Police. "They just walked in. The ones I saw, there was no
discussion about their health."
Those two pleas paint a picture of a small but troubling trend in the
Mountain State -- doctors who, either because of greed or their own
addiction, are writing prescriptions and distributing highly addictive
schedule II and III pharmaceuticals to people who are not their
patients.
"It was pretty obvious with (Johnson) something was going on because
he was the sixth highest prescription writer in the state at the time,
and he was a podiatrist," Smith said.
In fact, a police investigation into Johnson revealed that he wrote
more than 50,000 prescriptions for schedule II and III drugs in just
three years.
In recent years, a number of doctors throughout the Mountain State
either have been investigated or charged with illegally distributing
prescription medication. And people within the law enforcement
community said they are just scratching the surface right now.
They said while the state is lucky to be home to a multitude of
dedicated medical professionals who want only to help others get
better, a few are engaged in illegal activity that is resulting in
thousands of pills going out into the streets and landing in the hands
of addicts.
"While we have encountered only a few physicians that are doing it out
of the 5,100 physicians licensed in the state, it is a concern," said
Bob Knittle, executive director of the West Virginia Board of
Medicine.
Reasons for Selling
But the problem isn't limited to just doctors. Everyone in the health
care profession, from physicians to nurses to pharmacists, has access
to highly addictive medications that they either can use themselves or
sell for about $1 per milligram on the street.
And sometimes that access can be just too much of a temptation. But
the price is high. Not only do health care workers risk being arrested
on felony charges and sentenced to jail, they also risk losing their
license for either a set period of time or for their career.
But it still happens. For example:
Between 2004 and 2006, at least 10 pharmacists or pharmacy technicians
either had their licenses revoked or suspended after being found to
have stolen medication from the pharmacy where they work.
Between 2002 and 2006, at least 15 doctors had their licenses
suspended or revoked after being found to have inappropriately
prescribed medicine to patients or written prescriptions knowing the
patient did not intend to use them in a legal manner.
So why do people who are smart enough to go to medical school or
pharmacy school get involved in selling, distributing or improperly
distributing prescription drugs? Smith and Knittle said there are a
number of reasons. Sometimes they do it in exchange for ***. They will
write a prescription for a patient on the condition that he or she has
*** with them in return.
Sometimes doctors have addiction issues themselves, too. The doctors
are drunk or high, and their ability to see the larger impact of their
decisions is lost on them.
"(One doctor) had problems with both drugs and women," Smith said. "He
was charged in federal court, but later died in a house fire before
the trial started."
And then there are some cases where a doctor is just in it for the
money, Smith and Knittle said.
"That's what you have to always look for. Is he doing it for financial
gain, for the *** or because of an addiction?" Smith said. "With an
addiction, you kind of understand how things happen. I see that as
totally different than getting other people addicted and making money
off of it."
In those cases, a doctor can charge a flat fee for office visits.
Sometimes the doctor accepts only cash. Other times the doctor charges
the office visit to the insurance company. A patient walks in, gets a
script and then walks out. It's fast. It's easy. It's a huge
moneymaker.
"Physicians in small practices don't make oodles of money. Not every
M.D. is living in a mansion and going to the country club. So this
enables them to make side money," Knittle said. "You won't see
anesthesiologists or surgeons selling for the quick buck, but just
about anyone could do it."
And according to law enforcement officials, it's not hard to find the
doctors who are supplying easy scripts either. All it takes is driving
around the county, knowing who the local drug addicts are and seeing
where they hang out the most. If they all linger near a doctor's
office, chances are pretty good the doctor is doing something to
attract them there.
"You can tell who they are because the drug addicts gravitate to
them," said Cabell County Chief Deputy Sheriff James Scheidler."
He said in one case, people lined up outside of the doctor's office
before it opens and just wait. A little while later, after the office
opens, the crowd is gone.
"There are addicts that will tell us who they got their drugs from,
too," he said.
But sometimes doctors might not know they are dealing with an addict.
Scheidler said many drug addicts get into the habit of doctor
shopping, bouncing from one office to another until they get the
prescriptions they want.
"Rural doctors tend to be preyed on more," he said. "For instance, if
you live in Cabell County, you may drive to Hamlin or Kentucky to get
a prescription because it makes less noise, and people don't know
you."
Scheidler said in those cases, sometimes the doctors are totally aware
of what they are doing and the problems their patients have. Other
times, the doctors seem to be completely unaware that they are helping
to feed a habit.
"Sometimes to just get the guy out of their office, the doctor will
write a script," Scheidler said. "Yes, he knows what's going on, but
there is no other way to get the guy to leave."
Danger Under the Label
Smith said people are starting to become more aware of the dangers
associated with abusing prescription drugs, but the awareness is
happening slowly. They've read newspaper articles and watched
television news segments on the deaths of actress/model Anna Nicole
Smith and Brandi Bragg, granddaughter of Powerball winner Jack
Whittaker. Both women died after overdosing on prescription pills and
other substances.
"A lot of people think because they have a label on them and come from
a doctor, they are safe, but it's quite the opposite. Prescription
pills are as dangerous or maybe even more deadly than the street drugs
out there," Smith said. "The potency is so strong. If you take
hydrocodone for several years, you develop a tolerance. But if I take
one and it's my first time, that same pill might kill me."
He said while street drugs also are deadly and dangerous, a person
using cocaine or heroin can pace himself.
"A lot of the pills that are being abused, they are time released. So
you may take one and not feel any different, so you take one or two
more," he said. "Then it all hits you. Or sometimes people crush up
the pills. Then you still get the full effect right away. People just
don't understand how these pills work. If you mix them with alcohol,
it turns into something completely different."
And Smith pointed out a lot of people who end up addicted to medicine
never intended to get that way. He said many of them are prescribed a
pain reliever to treat a legitimate illness or injury. The medication
helps the problem for a while, but then the person builds up a
tolerance and needs stronger doses. Soon they are dependent on the
drug, and stopping it causes severe withdrawal.
"That's what is so scary about this. I'm sure people went to their
physicians and didn't know how addictive the pills really are," Smith
said.
Knittle, Smith and Scheidler all said the doctors and pharmacists who
get involved in the illegal side of prescription medication represent
a small percentage of health care professionals who work in West
Virginia. All three said most people in the medical profession work
diligently every day to help people improve their health, not hurt
it.
But the recent arrests, they said, do prove that continued diligence
is necessary.
"We will remain vigilant on this," Knittle said. "That is the Board of
Medicine's basic job: public safety."
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