Pain Relief Network

Dr. Bernard Rottschaefer first got in touch with Pain Relief Network several months prior to his trial. The doctor and his family were being destroyed by the Department of Justice, his reputation muddied by allegations that he had abused his position of authority to coerce women into performing sexual acts on him in exchange for Oxycontin and other pain medications. The doctor assured me that he was not guilty of these allegations.

As has been shown by documents that surfaced after the trial, the entire case was a fraud on the court. The US Attorney's office in Pittsburgh fabricated a malicious case against the doctor in order to make the larger case to the public and the Congress that there was a problem with drug dealing doctors that had to be addressed at the Federal level, with expanded funding for diversion control programs. The DEA had been shown to be utterly ineffective in its conventional drug control strategies and this new drug scare promised an unlimited supply of fodder for the prosecutorial machine.

I sat on the phone with Dr. Rottschaefer as he told me, day by day, during the trial, about the sort of wild atmosphere present in that Federal courtroom. I have seen enough doctor prosecutions to know that he was not telling me anything unusual. For a populace bred and raised on soap operas and anti-drug propaganda, the show the government was putting on must have been quite an enjoyable spectacle — that is, for the jury.

For our country, for rule of law, and for the sanctity of justice itself, the case leads us to a sad and shocking conclusion. The Department of Justice is running show trials starring compassionate physicians, in an effort to convince the American public that we need to be protected from our doctors by Federal law enforcement.

Certainly, between the pain crisis caused by the Drug War and HMOs, it is hard to argue that doctors, as a group, actually work for the best interests of their patients. But it is a far cry to suggest that doctors pose our society a threat that must be managed by drug police in S.W.A.T. gear.

On February 9, 2007, Rottschaefer was re-sentenced and given 1 1/2 fewer years to serve than the previously imposed sentence, 78 months became 60 months. He has been given permission to self report.

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Justice Denied
By: Radley Balko 

The United States vs. Bernard Rottschaefer, M.D.