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InvisibleBridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
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Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man
    #9814267 - 02/17/09 01:23 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

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With guns drawn, a dozen federal agents stormed a nondescript South Florida office on Feb. 11, 2008, to arrest a drug suspect.

The alleged culprit was not a cocaine importer or marijuana grower. He was a state-licensed physician, charged with prescribing medication that caused the death of a man from Palm Beach County.

When the case goes to trial today in Miami federal court, it will fall to jurors to decide whether Dr. Ali Shaygan was a compassionate doctor looking out for his patients or a drug dealer peddling prescriptions to addicts for easy cash.

His case is part of a national debate over who should set the standards for medical practice and how much responsibility doctors bear when they prescribe potentially deadly drugs.

Since 2003, nearly 400 physicians nationwide have been charged with prescription-related offenses, many under tough federal statutes intended to fight drug trafficking, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Of those cases, 51 involved Florida doctors. It is unclear how many were in South Florida, but the region leads the state in deaths from prescription drug overdoses.

Authorities lay some blame for the abuse of prescription drugs on what they say are unscrupulous doctors and have been cracking down on those they claim are willing to supply drugs to addicts and dealers.

But some lawmakers, medical professionals and patient advocates say such prosecutions make physicians afraid to prescribe the proper medication, even to those who desperately need it.

"As a result, we have an epidemic of untreated and under-treated pain," said David Brushwood, a professor of pharmaceutical regulation at the University of Florida.

Garrison Courtney, chief of public affairs for the DEA, said there is no evidence the agency's investigations hamper legitimate prescribing.

"Doctors know if they're practicing within the confines of the law, there's not an issue," he said.

A key question in Shaygan's trial will be whether the Miami Beach doctor, who agreed to meet patients late at night and at his home, performed adequate examinations before writing prescriptions for powerful narcotics.

At the center of the government's case is 29-year-old James "Brendan" Downey, of West Palm Beach, who died of a drug overdose in June 2007. If the jury finds Shaygan responsible, he would face a minimum of 20 years behind bars.

Shaygan, 37, completed his residency at the prestigious Mayo Clinic and specialized in family medicine. He treated Downey on three occasions and wrote him prescriptions for methadone and Valium, court records state.

Downey filled his last prescription on June 9, 2007. He popped several pills before going to sleep that night, his girlfriend told investigators, and never woke up. According to the government toxicology report, fatal levels of methadone were found in Downey's blood.

Prosecutors contend that makes Shaygan responsible, but the evidence is hardly clear-cut, according to the doctor's lead attorney, David O. Markus.

Markus said Shaygan had good cause to prescribe medication for Downey, who broke his ankle in a 2005 car accident. Moreover, an autopsy showed Downey was a heavy cocaine user and had cocaine and other drugs in his system when he died, Markus said.

Prescription bottles with Shaygan's name were found in Downey's bedroom, but so were multiple prescriptions from other doctors, Markus said.

After Downey's death, two undercover police officers posing as patients visited Shaygan's office. Prosecutors will tell jurors that each received numerous prescriptions after minimal examination, proving Shaygan was more interested in recruiting customers and earning a profit than providing medical treatment.

Markus has a different take: "These agents went in and acted like real patients."

Stories like Shaygan's convince many general practitioners that it's simply too risky to prescribe certain drugs regardless of medical need, said Dr. Sanford Silverman, a Broward County pain and addiction specialist.

Like many in his field, Silverman said he requires patients on narcotic pain medications, such as Oxycontin and hydrocodone, to sign contracts and submit to random drug screening. Such tests can be used to confirm patients are taking medications as prescribed or detect signs of illicit drug use. Silverman never prescribes such drugs on the first visit, he said.

"The run-of-the-mill physician out there may feel that it is too much to be bothered with," he said. "Inevitably, that affects the patient."


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Offlineclover606
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Registered: 08/13/07
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Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: Bridgeburner]
    #9814352 - 02/17/09 01:36 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

so the prescribing doctor told him to eat several pills and go to sleep? probably not, and anything short of that would be the retarded dead guys fault. if i got a script for pain killers and ate the whole bottle, theres no fucking way anyone could go OMG THE DOCTOR KILLED HIM!

people love to place blame.


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grassman said:

I remember being in DARE when i was much younger and some of the stories they would tell you are not only ridiculous, but completely untrue. One story was that a woman was on LSD and thought her infant was a turkey so she baked it in the oven. Now I look back and think thats hilarious, but at the time I guess it scared me.


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Offlinebbl337
genetic material is Ar based
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Registered: 02/12/09
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Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: clover606]
    #9814904 - 02/17/09 03:16 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

:sad: They can't be serious?  They make doctors sound like drug peddlers/murderers and dealers sound like terrorists who get off on raping, murdering, and pillaging.  Media for the loss :mad:

And, on that note, I have a feeling this doctor doesn't have much of a good chance in court


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OfflineOrgasmicBanana
aka "PICO"
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Registered: 08/02/08
Posts: 450
Last seen: 7 years, 10 months
Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: bbl337]
    #9815060 - 02/17/09 03:44 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

"If the jury finds Shaygan responsible, he would face a minimum of 20 years behind bars."

if only he had been molesting small boys in his home late at night, then he would only face 20 days :rolleyes:


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InvisibleCognitive_Shift
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Registered: 12/11/07
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Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: OrgasmicBanana]
    #9815237 - 02/17/09 04:14 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

This is such fucking bullshit.  These doctors have done nothing wrong.  Its not the doctors fault that the patient didn't follow prescription directions.  Its like blaming a liquor agency for drunk driver killing themselves in a crash.


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L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs


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Offlinesuburbanned
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Registered: 02/20/08
Posts: 2,810
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: Cognitive_Shift]
    #9815657 - 02/17/09 05:23 PM (14 years, 11 months ago)

I like how when something comes up about prosecuting marijuana doctors people say why don't they do the same to real doctors who prescribe deadly medicines, and then it happens, and there is an uproar.  :awebig:


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Offlinetyler_0_durden
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Registered: 10/28/07
Posts: 1,861
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
Re: Drug dealing doctor or compassionate caretaker? Miami jury to decide in death of West Palm Beach man [Re: suburbanned]
    #9818394 - 02/18/09 03:32 AM (14 years, 11 months ago)

The part I don't understand is the whole "giving patients prescriptions for oxycontin or hydrocodone" and then drug testing them to see if they've used the drugs illicitly. wait, what? Aren't they allowed to take said medication? Its like a police officer coming up to you, handing you some blow, and then telling you it would be perfectly okay for you to keep it and use it, then immediately after you go "gee thanks!" and take it from him, he slaps on the cuffs.

What a world we live in. I'm pretty sure we should be allowed to take certain prescribed narcotics any way we want, whether it be intranasally, through the vein, orally, or smoking it. If we have pain we shoula be using the medication in the way that we see benefits us the most

Unless they are talking about testing patients for other drugs besides the analgesics prescribed, then it might make sense, because they would know when someone is just trying to score painkillers....usually. Some people that use other drugs end up needing painkillers, such as if they were ever to get into a car accident or something. Also, I wish more doctors and police would understand that marijuana makes a great compliments to painkillers.


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"As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter."  --Max Planck


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