Here’s an update on the Melbourne, Florida case:

One of two Brevard County doctors arrested on drug charges said he was set up by police.

The two were charged with trafficking and with unlawful distribution of controlled substances after local, state and federal agents raided three local medical clinics Wednesday, WESH 2 News reported.

Dr. Nima Heshmati does not deny prescribing painkillers and muscle relaxers to four undercover officers.

Police say the prescriptions were illegal, but the doctor said they were legitimate.

[...]

Police said they wrote prescriptions without properly checking their patients to see if they really needed the painkillers.

“It was quite easy. They supplied no medical documentation whatsoever,” said Detective John Pasko, of the Melbourne Police Department.

[...]

Heshmati said he does not ask all his patients for full medical histories nor does he order tests for things such as muscle sprains, which don’t show up on X-rays or MRIs.

He accused police of setting him up and going on a rampage against doctors who prescribe painkillers. Heshmati said he does not prescribe the strongest, most addictive painkillers, such as Oxycontin [sic], and that he prescribed only a few pills — 15 or 20 — for the undercover officers who came into his office with fake injuries.

He said doctors should be insulated from responsibility for patients who lie to get drugs and then abuse them.

“If a patient wants to abuse the medication and do that, then a physician should not be held liable,” he said.

Think about what’s happening, here. Cops are walking into clinics disguised as pain patients. Once inside, they make a play for the doctor’s compassion, duping him into writing a script for pain medication. Get him several times, and they move in for the arrest. They can then seize everything he owns. In some states, they can sell his stuff and split the bounty among the various investigating agencies before he ever goes to trial.

Think for a moment what this kind of policy does to the doctor-patient relationship. Think about how willing other doctors will be to prescribe similar pain meds to patients after reading stories like these in the newspaper. Think about whether it’s wise to have drug cops dictating what is and isn’t acceptable medical treatment.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 at 9:19 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Pain Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.