Jul 18, 2007
By: Ken Moore
The Connection Newspapers (VA)

Things are not always what they seem.  Before the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned Dr. William E.  Hurwitz's 50 convictions and 25-year prison sentence, remanding the case back to federal court in Alexandria, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema thought the amount of drugs prescribed by the McLean pain doctor was "absolutely crazy."

Hurwitz prescribed high doses of opioid pain medication for patients who sometimes traveled across the country to see him because they were unable to get pain relief anywhere else.

The 1,879,677 pills Hurwitz prescribed to just 24 of his patients led to drug addiction, drug dependency and the illegal sale of pills.  "He was an island unto himself," said Gene Rossi, Assistant U.S.  Attorney. No other doctor in history issued prescriptions like Hurwitz, Rossi said during both of Hurwitz's trials in 2004 and April 2007.

But two defense experts, chronic pain doctors James N. Campbell of Johns Hopkins University and Russell K. Portenoy of Beth Israel
Medical Center in New York,  "turned my thinking around," Brinkema said before sentencing Hurwitz last Friday, July 12.  Brinkema, who presided over Hurwitz's retrial, sentenced him to 57 months, the minimum sentence under federal guidelines.

"The overwhelming number of patients in the practice were legitimate," Brinkema said, "and he was trying to treat them with a type of medicine that clearly was controversial."

HURWITZ HAS been in prison since his first trial in 2004, but was granted a new trial when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Judge Leonard D. Wexler erred when he refused to allow Hurwitz to argue that he acted in "good faith" when treating his "problem patients."

More than 15 drug addicts and drug dealers testified during both trials about how their use of Hurwitz's prescriptions led to addiction, drug sales, prison terms and misery. But unlike Hurwitz's first trial when

Judge Wexler limited Hurwitz's "success" stories, many patients testified in April how Hurwitz "saved" their lives.

"There is no evidence that the defendant targeted any of the victims.  Rather, the victims were targeting the doctor," Judge Brinkema said.
Brinkema called the case an "unusual" drug case. "Clearly there is no evidence that the doctor did this for financial gain."

A federal jury spent seven days deliberating after the four-week trial in April before finding Hurwitz guilty of 16 counts of drug trafficking and not guilty of 17 counts. Brinkema dismissed the final 12 counts the jury did not reach consensus on.

Brinkema dismissed the most serious charges against the pain doctor, including drug trafficking resulting in death and serious bodily injury.

Those charges carried mandatory minimum sentences of 20-years each. After hearing the government's portion of the case, Brinkema said those charges amounted to malpractice claims, and did not belong in a criminal court.