Montana:

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) war without quarter against what it sees as corrupt, pill-dealing physicians who are fueling a crisis in prescription drug abuse came to Montana last month. But with the raid on Billings physician Dr. Richard A. Nelson, who has been treating patients with opioids for chronic pain from cancer, arthritis, and other conditions, that all-too-familiar narrative has been challenged.

[...]

The DEA did not tell Nelson at the time why he was being raided, except to say that agents served an “administrative inspection warrant.” Nelson was not arrested or charged with any offense, although that could be coming. The agency was still keeping mum this week, with Denver regional DEA spokesperson Karen Flowers telling DRCNet only that “this is an ongoing investigation.”

Nelson, who has been practicing medicine in Billings since the 1970s, has a spotless record with the state medical board. He does not prescribe the controversial but medically accepted mega-doses of opioids that have triggered DEA investigations of other pain treatment physicians. But two of his patients reportedly died from drug-related causes in the last year, perhaps drawing the interest of the DEA. Nelson’s practice remains open, and the DEA returned his files 10 days later, but he now cannot prescribe the medications needed by his chronic pain patients. The practice limps along under the cloud of the DEA raid.

While Nelson and his newly hired legal team wait to see what the DEA will do next, some 75 of his patients have been left out in the cold. Without Dr. Nelson, said patient Glen Wilkinson, Billings pain patients are finding adequate pain treatment hard to come by. “I ended up with Dr. Nelson as a last resort,” said Wilkinson, who suffers from chronic pain related to two herniated and nine broken discs in his spinal column. “I had no place else to go. He’s a good, honest doctor, but now I am being denied medical care based on my affiliation with him. My primary care physician told me he wouldn’t see me again after I went to Dr. Nelson.”

Wayne Nott, a retired rock quarry worker from Bridger suffering from a variety of painful complaints, including arthritis, multiple lipomas, and varicose veins who also lives with a titanium plate in his neck, is another patient of Dr. Nelson’s who is having trouble finding a doctor to treat him. He told DRCNet he traveled more than a hundred miles to go to an appointment with a doctor who had agreed to see him, but when he arrived he was turned away.

“When I got to the doctor’s office and told them I had an appointment, the receptionist asked for my name, then told me ‘You did have an appointment, but you don’t now.’ She told me she got a phone call 10 minutes before I arrived saying not to treat any patients from Dr. Nelson’s office. When I asked her who had told them that, she wouldn’t say, but I know it must have been the DEA,” Nott said.

“She told me I had to leave the building,” said Nott. “She acted like I was some kind of psycho. People think that people who went to Dr. Nelson are junkies. I’m no junkie. I hate to even take the stuff I’m taking, but I have to for my chronic pain.”

The physician in question, Dr. Ahmed Madi of Roundup, refused Thursday to discuss his reasons for turning Nott away. “I’m not interested, thank you very much. Bye,” was his response to a DRCNet inquiry.

Shameful.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 at 5:35 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.