23 Sep 2003
Source: Sun News (Myrtle Beach SC)
Webpage: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/6838526.htm
Two doctors sentenced in OxyContin case
Center worker also sent to prison
By Kenneth A. Gailliard
The Sun News
Oxycontin is a potent and popular pain killer.
FLORENCE - A federal judge has sentenced two doctors and an employee
from a former Myrtle Beach pain center for improperly prescribing
narcotics, including the painkiller OxyContin, over about five years.
Drs. Michael Woodward and Venkata Pulivarthi are the first of seven
doctors from the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center to face
sentencing.
Woodward, the former owner of the center, must serve 15 years, followed
by 3 years of supervised release.
Pulivarthi, who worked at the center about three months, was sentenced
to three years probation.
Windy Suggs, an employee at the business, received a two-year sentence,
followed by three years of supervised release.
A 93-count federal indictment that included allegations of illegal
distribution of narcotics and health care fraud named eight doctors and
three employees. One doctor, Benjamin Moore, committed suicide after
pleading guilty.
Federal Judge C. Weston Houck issued the sentences Monday, reducing each
because the three defendants helped investigators.
During a two-week trial in January and February, a parade of former
patients described the pain center as an OxyContin distribution point.
Although many consider OxyContin effective for chronic pain, it's
commonly misused, experts say.
Monday's sentences could make people aware that if they misuse
OxyContin, they can be prosecuted, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Day
said.
"The message is they can get sentenced to jail time," Day said.
For Litchfield Beach resident William King III, the sentences represent
justice. He said his sister, Patricia King, a former patient of
Woodward's, overdosed about seven years ago.
"I trust in the judgment of Judge Houck," he said.
Before his sentence, Woodward said, "As you know, I've had a long time
to reflect on my acts, and I believe I am a better person now than I
used to be."
He was sentenced for drug conspiracy, health care fraud and money
laundering.
His lawyer, William Watkins, asked Houck to allow him to be in prison
near Florida, where his wife and children live. It was not clear Monday
where he would be located.
Pulivarthi said he was guilty of poor judgement for working at the
center so long. He was sentenced on drug conspiracy charges.
Suggs apologized and asked for mercy after her family and friends asked
the judge for leniency. She was sentenced for money laundering.
Houck also reduced the sentence of David Vandergriff, another former
employee, from 15 months to just more than 12 months. Vandergriff has
served about six months.
Awaiting sentencing are Drs. Deborah Sutherland, Ricardo Alerre, Michael
Jackson, Thomas Devlin and Deborah Bordeaux. Sentencing dates have not
been set.
Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: 20 Sep 2003
Source: Sun News (SC)
Author: Kenneth A. Gailliard
Webpage:
Three tied to MB pain clinic to be sentenced
By Kenneth A. Gailliard
The Sun News
Oxycontin is a potent and popular pain killer.
The former owner and two employees of a defunct Myrtle Beach pain clinic
face sentencing Monday on federal charges related to illegal
distribution of the potent pain killer OxyContin and other drugs.
Federal Judge C. Weston Houck will sentence David Michael Woodward, the
owner of the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center; Dr. Venkata
R. Pulivarthi; and Windy Suggs, a former employee of the business, at 10
a.m. in Florence.
The three have pleaded guilty to involvement in illegally distributing
narcotics, including OxyContin, to hundreds of pain center patients
between 1997 and 2001.
Woodward, Pulivarthi and Suggs testified earlier this year against three
other doctors in the case, in exchange for consideration for lesser
sentences.
They face sentences ranging from about two years to 60 years in prison.
Woodward, who has been in federal custody, faces the longest sentence,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Day said.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents said ramifications of the
clinic's operations continue to be felt statewide, as arrests connected
to illegal OxyContin sales have become more widespread since federal
agents closed the Myrtle Beach clinic.
"The patients who were going to the pain clinic still need to find a
source for OxyContin and they are going to other places in the state,
including doctors and people who are selling the drug or issuing
prescriptions," said John Ozaluk, agent in charge at the DEA office in
South Carolina.
During a two-week trial ending in February for former clinic doctors
Michael Jackson, Deborah Bordeaux and Richardo Allerre, patients and
former doctors described practices of doctors who issued narcotic
prescriptions with little or no examinations of pain patients.
Customers from South Carolina and other states were attracted to the
clinic because of the ease with which the drugs could be obtained,
according to court testimony.
Allerre, Bordeaux and Jackson each were found guilty of charges
including conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled
substances and conspiracy.
They face up to life in prison, Day said, but their sentencings are
pending.
Also awaiting sentencing is Dr. Deborah Southerland, who has pleaded
guilty. Another indicted, Dr. Benjamin Moore, committed suicide before
trial.
The Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center case may have helped
make some doctors in the state more aware of the consequences of
irresponsible prescription writing, said Dr. Gene Reeder, professor of
pharmacy at the University of South Carolina.
"But people who are out to make money will do it anyway, with disregard
for what the laws say," he said.