This one in Jupiter, Florida. He was charged with murder, among 85 other crimes. The jury acquited him on all but ten. Unfortunately, those ten could get him life in prison. He had a wall full of degrees, including a degree in public health from Columbia. Note that the jury said most of the debate was over whether the guy was “a good doctor,” or practiced medicine “in good faith.” Certainly either of those should be taken into consideration when deciding if the guy should be allowed to practice medicine. But do we want to live in a society where a jury’s determination of whether you’re a good or bad doctor could ultimately put you in prison for the rest of your life?

Snippet:

The charges against Deonarine and other deaths involving OxyContin have had a chilling effect on doctors who treat chronic pain patients, according to Dr. Pamela Sutton, a pain management specialist with the North Broward Hospital District. One doctor told Sutton that he would only give the drug to patients in the hospital, while another said he would not prescribe it to anybody.

“He said, `What if somebody steals my patient’s OxyContin and dies from it? I might be charged in the death.’ The average physician is going to think twice,” Sutton said.

As bailiffs led Deonarine to jail, his friend and former patient Vincent Coppola lamented the situation and defended his doctor of 10 years.

“He’s a man filled with warmth and sincerity,” said Coppola, 75.

Deonarine never mentioned the looming verdict on Sunday, when the men spent the day at sea on Coppola’s boat.

“Hope springs eternal,” he said. “I’m sad. I’m going to go home and cry.”

More pain stuff coming.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2005 at 8:49 am 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.