IÂ’ve mentioned more than once that my dear wife suffers from a cluster of chronic neurological conditions which are degenerative and result in chronic pain. We have been fortunate that her doctors take her seriously and are willing to prescribe therapeutic dosages of appropriate pain medications.

Unfortunately, state and federal regulators have been going after doctors in the pain management field for prescribing such medications at therapeutic levels, second-guessing the medical judgments of physicians. One recent conviction really had me disturbed – but it has now been overturned on appeal.

A federal appeals court threw out the conviction of William E. Hurwitz yesterday, granting the prominent former Northern Virginia pain-management doctor a new trial because jurors were not allowed to consider whether he prescribed drugs in good faith.

The decision again galvanized the national debate that the Hurwitz case had come to symbolize: whether fully licensed doctors prescribing legal medication to patients in chronic pain should be subject to prosecution if their patients abuse or sell the drugs. Patient advocate groups strongly supported Hurwitz and expressed concern that his conviction would have a chilling effect on pain doctors.

The Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit acknowledged that prosecutors presented "powerful" evidence at Hurwitz's trial that was "strongly indicative of a doctor acting outside the bounds of accepted medical practice." Hurwitz was convicted in December 2004 of running a drug conspiracy from his McLean office, causing the death of one patient and seriously injuring two others.

But a three-judge panel concluded that U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler improperly told jurors that they could not consider whether Hurwitz acted in "good faith" when he prescribed large amounts of OxyContin and other painkillers -- in one instance, 1,600 pills a day.

"We cannot say that no reasonable juror could have concluded that Hurwitz's conduct fell within an objectively-defined good-faith standard," the judges wrote, adding that Hurwitz presented evidence that he ran a legitimate medical practice and believed that his prescriptions were "medically proper."

Patient and medical advocates hailed the decision. "It's about time that courts start to realize that these are doctors, not drug dealers," said Kathryn Serkes, a spokeswoman for the Arizona-based Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

While my wife is not – quite – on as much medication as this doctor was prescribing, her dosages are increasing as her symptoms worsen. I would hate to think that her medical team would ever have to face a choice between giving her enough medication or staying out of jail.

Posted by: Greg at 11:25 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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