Federal agents arrest doctor

By Jason Miller The News-Dispatch

A Michigan City physician whose office was raided by Drug Enforcement Agency officers in early March was arrested Monday by Michigan City police and could face four federal counts of prescribing narcotics to patients without a legitimate medical purpose.

Assistant U.S. District Attorney Jonathan Potter said late Monday that Dr. Frederick Battle, 71, will appear in front of a U.S. magistrate this afternoon.

According to court documents, Battle was arrested after prescribing the pain killer Oxycontin to an undercover police officer on four different occasions.

Witnesses interviewed by Drug Enforcement agents also said Battle was prescribing Oxycontin to many other patients for non-medical reasons.

A federal affidavit given to The News-Dispatch Monday shows Battle admitted to prescribing the Class-C pain killer to heroin abusers in order to hasten the decline of the drug trade.

"Battle added that by prescribing Oxycontin to heroin addicts, he helped in the decline of the drug empire by keeping addicts off the street," a DEA special agent said in an affidavit presented to the court.

In light of witness testimony, which included several Michigan City pharmacies that refused to fill prescriptions written by Battle, he voluntarily relinquished his DEA registration, which allows a physician to prescribe controlled substances.

Pharmacists and employees of the Walters Clinic, 1507 Wabash St., Michigan City, where Battle practices, told investigators that the doctor continued to write prescriptions for Class-C narcotics after he gave up his registration on March 19.

According to court records, DEA agents began to investigate Battle in February 2003 after a local pharmacist alerted agents to what the pharmacist felt was a glut of extraordinarily large Oxycontin prescriptions by Battle.

The pharmacist also told agents that the patients didn't look as if they were in any pain.

Over the next year, records showed, agents received similar testimony from other local pharmacists and were told that most in the area no longer would fill prescriptions written by Battle for controlled substances.

U.S. attorneys allege Battle prescribed the drug to patients after conducting only cursory examinations, or in some cases, no examination at all.

In an interview with agents, Battle admitted to prescribing the drug based on what dosage patients told them they wanted. Battle added that patients commonly ask for either 80 milligram or 40 milligram units.

Battle also admitted to accepting Medicaid from about half of his patients as payment for visits in which he would prescribe the drug. Court documents show he submitted a claim to Medicaid after the patient -- an undercover officer -- paid for the visit with cash.

Potter said late Monday that Battle would appear before U.S. Magistrate Cristopher Niechterlein this afternoon.

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