ohd_37
Board Addict
Reged: 08/05/03
Posts: 399
Loc: up north, yankee all the way
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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.
Contact reporter Jason Miller at
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yawkaw3
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 1193
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Quote:
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.
He prescribed OxyContin to heroin addicts to "hasten the decline of the drug trade"....that is some alibi.
-yawkaw
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2muchpain
Enthusiast
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 274
Loc: USA
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Maybe so, but I don't "look" or "sound" like I am sick and I am under treatment for breast cancer at the moment. I feel sorry for the old guy.
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yawkaw3
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/22/03
Posts: 1193
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Instead of referring narcotic-addicted patients to methadone clinics and treatment centers, he capitalized on their misery. How many people OD'd, killed a child in a DUI, or lost everything they had thanks to this guy?
With prescribing practices like that, I don't think many chronic pain patients were part of his practice- I can't believe it was anything other than addicts who couldn't believe the huge score they made with a doctor who accepts Medicaid and prescribes Oxy just by asking for it- please, the guy was committing Medicaid fraud, he was in it for the money, if he helped someone inadvertently along the way that's fine, but that wasn't his intention.
This is not one of those stories of a pain management physician wrongfully accused of overprescribing, when all he wanted to do was treat a human being with dignity and compassion. This guy is a criminal who got caught.
I'm sorry to hear you have breast cancer, but what would have happened if you had seen this guy and he got you dependent on Oxy, only to get busted a few years later, and now you're stuck with an Oxy dependence and no other doctor wants to continue prescribing it after finding out you used to get it from a convicted felon?
-yawkaw
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2muchpain
Enthusiast
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 274
Loc: USA
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I don't want to get into a pi$$ing contest with you. I was just stating my opinion, not trying to argue with you.
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karib
Member
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 104
Loc: new england
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i too had breast cancer, and am in remmission, PM me if you like. karib
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ohd_37
Board Addict
Reged: 08/05/03
Posts: 399
Loc: up north, yankee all the way
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Quote:
Instead of referring narcotic-addicted patients to methadone clinics and treatment centers, he capitalized on their misery. How many people OD'd, killed a child in a DUI, or lost everything they had thanks to this guy?
No one died or OD'd thanks to this Dr. What the paper has done is taken a statement that he made before where he had said that he give people in pain meds to keep them from buying meds off the street and ran with it. They have taken the story and twisted it all around. The 1st story is posted here somewhere also. He is a very compassoinate Dr.
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lovely11
Board Addict
Reged: 01/03/04
Posts: 330
Loc: With my dog at my side
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Quote:
The pharmacist also told agents that the patients didn't look as if they were in any pain.
Here we go again, another pharmacist practicing medicine. You CAN NOT judge a book by it's cover. There are millions of people walking around out there that don't "look" like they're in pain but are in utter agony. What a judgemental pharmacist. Oh, I forgot, he must be God.
I also feel sorry for this doctor. I don't know the whole story and from my own experience I know that the these high and mighty officials blow things way out of proportion just to try and make their case. Look at the media and their tatics. Surely you don't believe they don't "beef up" the truth. I've heard things in a court of law that would blow you away and I know for certain that they were not true. I'm totally again judging without knowing both sides of the story.
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Lovely - devout dog lover
I wish I were half as good as my dog thinks I am.
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