LAS VEGAS SUN REPORTS:
By Marshall Allen (contact) Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 | 2 a.m
Widows: Doctor prescribed narcotics that led to addictions, deaths
Mary Ann Reynolds holds a picture of her late husband, Robert, who had sought treatment for lower back pain. “I have a monster in me I can’t control … I thank you for trying to help, it was to no avail. Addicts are smart, cunning people,” wrote Robert Reynolds, a patient of two Las Vegas physicians, in a suicide note before he shot himself in October 2008.
The two families’ lawsuits were prepared by Dallas attorney Kay Van Wey, who specializes in suing doctors who operate so-called “pill mills,” practices where potentially dangerous narcotics are prescribed without regard to a patient’s medical need or safety. She has filed lawsuits on behalf of other families of Buckwalter patients.
“These rogue doctors like Dr. Buckwalter and Dr. Yeh have reaped enormous profits by using their prescription pads as a printing press to make money,” Van Wey said.
Sun Archives
- Doctor sued by families of 3 dead patients (4-28-2009)
- Doctor linked to 8 overdose fatalities (12-19-2008)
- License to prescribe lost, practice sold (11-25-2008)
- When drugs bring harm not healing (10-15-08)
- Patient’s husband remembers her wry humor, last pain-filled weeks (10-15-08)
- Her outlook darkened as her addiction deepened, journal details (10-15-08)
Doctor sued by families of 3 dead patients
Buckwalter prescribed painkillers recklessly, the lawsuits allege
By Marshall Allen (contact)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sam Morris
Prescriptions bottles show the drugs Xanax and morphine prescribed to Andrea and Clint Duncan by Henderson physician Dr. Kevin Buckwalter. The Duncans died after overdosing on the medications.
A Henderson physician who was linked by medical authorities to the deaths of eight patients after prescribing them narcotic painkillers has been sued by the families of three patients who died.
The lawsuits accuse Dr. Kevin Buckwalter of violating medical standards when he prescribed large doses of narcotic painkillers that contributed to their deaths.
Buckwalter was stripped of his license to prescribe controlled substances by the Nevada State Medical Examiners Board and the Drug Enforcement Administration after a Sun investigation linked his practice to multiple patient deaths. The oversight agencies linked Buckwalter to eight fatalities.
Buckwalter has stopped practicing medicine.
Maggie DeBaun, the mother of one of the victims, said she sued Buckwalter to bring public attention to prescription drug abuse.
“It’s not just a local or a personal problem, it’s an epidemic,” said DeBaun, whose 26-year-old daughter, Andrea Duncan, died after an August 2005 accidental overdose of drugs prescribed by Buckwalter.
The Sun wrote about complaints against Buckwalter after reporting that Nevadans consume greater quantities of prescription narcotics per capita than residents of almost every other state — and the use has skyrocketed in the past decade. Experts say a primary part of the problem is doctors who are careless with their prescriptions, or who prescribe the drugs as a way to make money.
The allegations in the three lawsuits, filed Friday in District Court, mirror those published in the Sun, which reported in October on Buckwalter’s treatment of the same three patients.
Buckwalter’s brother, Bryce Buckwalter, who also serves as his attorney, said in an e-mail: “Dr. Buckwalter truly cares about each and every one of patients, and as such, he is greatly saddened by the passing of these three individuals. However, Dr. Buckwalter is now being forced to defend himself, of which, he looks forward to having his day in court.”
Duncan had come to Buckwalter in November 2004, with back and head injuries suffered in a car accident four years before. Over the next nine months Buckwalter prescribed her 2,130 tablets of oxycodone, the primary narcotic in the drug OxyContin, plus 1,200 pills of hydrocodone, the main ingredient in the drugs Vicodin and Lortab, the lawsuit said. In addition, she was prescribed more than 3,500 Xanax pills.
Buckwalter gave a deposition on Duncan’s behalf in a lawsuit related to the car accident that caused her injuries. Under oath, he said he did not examine Duncan before prescribing her drugs, did not monitor the effects of the medication and did not tailor his treatment to the patient.
Dr. Andrea Trescot, a pain management specialist and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle who is serving as the plaintiffs’ expert in all three cases, said Buckwalter’s treatment of Duncan violated established standards of care. If Buckwalter had cared for her properly, “there is reasonable medical probability Andrea Duncan would not have died,” Trescot wrote in her court declaration.
Steve Marcus
Don and Barbara Baile, shown in a family photo, were married for 50 years. Baile says Buckwalter did nothing about the constipation that resulted from the narcotics he gave her.
In a separate lawsuit, the family of Barbara Baile accuses Buckwalter of failing to address her constipation — a common side effect of narcotics — which led to her bowels being ruptured, causing the toxic infection of her body and death by sepsis. Baile, 69, died in April after being prescribed narcotics by Buckwalter for about four years. Her husband, Don Baile, said that his wife frequently complained to the doctor about abdominal pain and constipation, but that Buckwalter did not address the problem.
Trescot, who reviewed Baile’s records, found that Buckwalter failed to monitor the effects of the drugs, kept inadequate records of the medications prescribed and did not assess the abdominal pain — acts and omissions that were “substantial contributing” factors to her death.
courtesy rene alkazoff
Staci Voyda, shown in an undated photo provided by her mother, committed suicide in August. She had been a patient of Dr. Kevin Buckwalter’s.
The third lawsuit was filed by the family of Staci Voyda, 19, who according to her journal saw Buckwalter in February 2007 for help with her OxyContin addiction. He put her on large doses of the anti-anxiety medication Xanax and methadone, a narcotic that can be used to help addicts withdrawing from other narcotics. The prescriptions continued until Voyda survived an accidental overdose of methadone on June 8, 2007.
Less than two weeks later, Buckwalter prescribed Voyda 100 doses of hydrocodone, which is highly addictive and frequently abused.
In the ensuing weeks, Voyda’s family and friends said, she became totally withdrawn. Meanwhile, Buckwalter was prescribing her increasing doses of narcotic painkillers — including oxycodone, her narcotic of choice, starting July 29, 2007.
In a span of 11 days Buckwalter prescribed Voyda 310 oxycodone pills. On August 26 she killed herself.
The plaintiffs are represented by Kay Van Wey, a Dallas attorney who has filed complaints against doctors in other “pill mill” cases.
Van Wey said she is reviewing the cases of several other Buckwalter patients and that more lawsuits may be filed. The lawsuits seek unspecified damages.
PRESCRIPTION PAINKILLERS:
Doctor linked to 8 overdose fatalities
DEA suspends Buckwalter’s right to prescribe narcotics nationally
Dr. Kevin Buckwalter was recorded during a sworn deposition. The DEA stripped him Thursday of his ability to prescribe controlled substances.
By Marshall Allen (contact)
Friday, Dec. 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday stripped Dr. Kevin Buckwalter of his ability to prescribe controlled substances, alleging that at least eight of his patients since 2005 have died of overdoses.
The DEA said that allowing the Henderson physician to prescribe controlled substances “constitutes an imminent danger to public health and safety.”
The suspension of Buckwalter’s certificate of registration means he is not eligible to write prescriptions for controlled substances — including narcotics such as hydrocodone, methadone and oxycodone — anywhere in the country.
Timothy Landrum, DEA special agent in charge of its Los Angeles division, said in a statement about Buckwalter — the focus of a Sun investigation into overprescribed narcotics — that more Americans abuse prescription drugs than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined.
“Unfortunately, there are a few doctors using their position of trust in our communities to prey on those who are vulnerable to the abuse of these drugs,” Landrum said.
Bryce Buckwalter, the doctor’s brother and attorney, said Thursday evening in an e-mail that the DEA actions were unjustified and “the direct result of political influences within the State of Nevada … We are confident we will be able to have the suspension lifted by the DEA.”
Kevin Buckwalter is being investigated for allegedly failing to properly examine patients and assess their need for drugs, prescribing excessive amounts of drugs and failing to properly monitor the use of controlled substances prescribed, the DEA said.
The DEA, which investigates cases for possible civil or criminal prosecution, would not comment further on its investigation. Buckwalter, a family physician and pediatrician whose records show he prescribed large doses of narcotics to some patients, will be able to appeal the DEA’s decision in an administrative hearing, possibly in February, officials said.
Buckwalter has been the subject of a months-long Sun investigation that included interviews with dozens of his former patients, former employees and families of loved ones who died while under his care. Four medical experts who reviewed patient records at the Sun’s request — with the permission of the patients or their families — concluded that Buckwalter prescribed alarmingly high amounts of narcotics and Xanax, with virtually no medical documentation, which contributed to the deaths of at least three patients.
The Nevada Medical Examiners Board has determined in its own investigation, which is ongoing, that Buckwalter committed malpractice in four cases, including one in which “excessive” doses of narcotics led to a patient’s death. On Nov. 13, the medical board and Nevada Pharmacy Board suspended the doctor’s license to prescribe controlled substances in the state. He subsequently sold his practice.
“This is getting bigger and bigger,” Dr. Andrea Trescot said of the DEA’s announcement about the eight patient deaths.
Trescot, a nationally known pain specialist who reviewed patient records on behalf of the Sun, said overdose deaths occur with even the best doctors. But they are rare occurrences, she added, saying three of her patients have died of accidental overdoses in about 15 years.
Trescot praised the DEA for taking action, but criticized the agency for taking so long. Sometimes the DEA hounds a doctor after one patient dies, but in this case there were many deaths and the DEA was slow to respond, Trescot said.
Dr. David Kloth, a past president of the American Society of Intervention Pain Physicians, who also reviewed records at the Sun’s request, said he has not seen enough evidence to determine whether Buckwalter’s behavior was criminal.
“I think he’s just not a good doctor,” Kloth said. “He’s poorly trained and operating way beyond his level of expertise.”
Kloth said that if allegations of criminal negligence are going to be directed at Buckwalter, they could also apply to the DEA and the Nevada medical board — which did not discipline him in 2005 after a complaint related to a patient death.
“Maybe the medical board in Nevada is criminally negligent for not stripping him of his license earlier,” Kloth said.
Kay Van Wey, a Dallas attorney who is representing the families of three people who died while under Buckwalter’s care, said she intends to discover what the medical board members knew, when they knew it and what they did about it.
Acting on patient complaints, the Sun investigated Buckwalter after the newspaper’s analysis of the DEA’s controlled substances database showed that Nevadans consume more narcotics per capita than residents of almost any other state.
Nevadans rank first in the country in per capita consumption of hydrocodone, the main ingredient in the drugs Vicodin and Lortab, and fourth in consumption of methadone, morphine and oxycodone, the primary ingredient in OxyContin.
The Sun also found that Clark County’s prescription drug deaths now outnumber those from all illicit drugs combined. Experts say doctors who overprescribe narcotics contribute to the crisis.
Sun archives
- Dec. 3 — Another doctor loses his right to prescribe
- Nov. 13 — Board strips doctor of license to prescribe controlled substances
- Oct. 21 — Legally, doctor is under no limits
- Oct. 15 — Patient’s husband remembers her wry humor, last pain-filled weeks
- Oct. 15 — When drugs bring harm not healing
- Oct. 15 — Her outlook darkened as her addiction deepened, journal details
Sun archives
Deposition
Parent’s Malpractice Suit Blames “Pill Mill” for Son’s Overdose Death
10/2/2008 10:40 AM By Kelly Holleran
A Beaumont couple has filed suit on behalf of their deceased son against a medical clinic, a pharmacy, two physicians and two pharmacists, alleging their son died after he took pills prescribed to him.
Ken and Esther Scarborough claim their 25-year-old son, Christopher, died an accidental death caused from drug toxicity and pulmonary edema on Sept. 23, 2007, according to a complaint filed in Jefferson District Court.
Physician’s assistant Kelly Lock and Dr. John Edward Perry III prescribed Christopher three prescriptions for 120 tablets of Soma 350 mg, 120 tablets of Lorcet and 60 tablets of Xanax during his visit on Sept. 18, 2007, to Unimed Medical Center, the suit states.
He was at the center seeking medical treatment, the suit states, but does not give further details.
Lock and Perry performed no diagnostic tests, but told Christopher to take one tablet of Soma and Lorcet four times a day and half a tablet of Xanax four times a day, the Scarboroughs claim.
“This combination of medications is often referred to on the streets as ‘holy trinity’ or ‘party packs’ because of the ease in which they can be obtained from numerous ‘pill mills’ in Houston/Beaumont and Southeast Texas area,” the suit states. “Plaintiffs assert and allege that Unimed Medical Clinic LLC was just such a clinic.”
Christopher had the three prescriptions filled at Lifechek on Sept. 18 for $65, according to the complaint.
“Plaintiffs would show that these medications were excessive and medically unnecessary,” the suit states.
The Scarboroughs claim they found their son unconscious on the floor of their house on Sept. 23, 2007.
Christopher died before he could be transported to the hospital, according to the complaint.
The Scarboroughs were responsible for his funeral and burial expenses, the suit states.
They also claim they suffered conscious pain, grief and mental anguish as a result of his death.
The Scarboroughs claim Lock, Perry and Unimed were negligent because they failed to properly evaluate, assess, diagnose and treat Christopher’s condition, failed to supervise the carrying out of a prescription drug order and prescribed unnecessary medications.
The three also prescribed controlled substances without a valid medical purpose, failed to provide information about the risks of the drug, failed to act as a reasonable physician would have done and failed to comply with the standard of care, the suit states.
Lifechek and its pharmacists were negligent because they dispensed a substance without a legitimate medical purpose, failed to provide information about the risks, failed to provide patient counseling about the risks and failed to conduct a drug regimen review, according to the complaint.
“Pleading further, Plaintiffs would show that at the time and on the occasion complained of all Defendants jointly were engaged in a civil conspiracy to commit illegal acts by way of prescribing and dispensing unnecessary, improper, and non-therapeutic medication and dangerous drugs to Christopher Scarborough and others in order to generate a profit,” the suit states.
The Scarboroughs are seeking unspecified exemplary and monetary damages, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, court costs and other relief.
Kay L. Van Wey of Van Wey & Johnson will be representing them.
The case has been assigned to Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th District Court.
Case No. B182-457
