Got My American Pain Association Newsletter Today. Those Fascists have convicted Dr Hurwitz Again

[Wiley50]

April 27th was a very chilling day for Chronic Pain Patients like me. I'm Frickin' LIVID!

And, Guess What? Paul J. NcNulty was in the courtroom (#3 DOJ) when the verdict was read

And the comments to the artcle (sans 1) are some of the finest I've ever read

Please give this one some love if you can find time

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/dr-hurwitz-convicted-of-16-drug-trafficking-charges/

April 27, 2007, 9:00 pm
Dr. Hurwitz Convicted on 16 Counts of Drug Trafficking

By John Tierney

Tags: opioids, pain, William Hurwitz

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – After deliberating for seven days in federal court here, a jury late this afternoon found Dr. William Hurwitz guilty on 16 counts of drug trafficking. Dr. Hurwitz, whose legal battles over his opioid prescriptions made him a hero to some chronic-pain patients, was not convicted on the other 29 counts against him.

The bad news for Dr. Hurwitz (and his many supporters who have been posting here) is that he remains in prison and will be sentenced on July 13 for writing prescriptions of OxyContin and other opioids to drug dealers and addicts. But his prospects are certainly better than they were after his first trial in 2004, when he was convicted on 50 counts related to drug trafficking, including several with mandatory 20-year sentences for causing bodily injury or death. He was sentenced to 25 years following that conviction (which was overturned on appeal, resulting in a retrial that lasted more than a month).

The counts on which he was convicted today each carry a 20-year maximum sentence and no minimum requirement, giving Judge Leonie M. Brinkema great discretion in sentencing. She could sentence him to as little as the time already served by him, two and a half years, which would be longer than the prison terms of some of his patients who were caught peddling the drugs he prescribed to them.

After the judge in this trial dismissed the most serious charges (involving bodily injury or death) against Dr. Hurwitz, there were 45 counts remaining for the jury to deliberate. They found him guilty on 16 counts and acquitted him on 17. They said they were unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 12 counts, which were then dismissed by the judge.

One of the jurors left the courthouse in tears, and others whom I talked to said it had been a wrenching decision for all of them because they believed Dr. Hurwitz was a compassionate doctor. (If any other jurors want to share their thoughts on the case, you can send an e-mail to
([e-mail]). I’ll discuss the jurors’ reactions in a post later this weekend.
---------------------------
"At this point, the judge stepped down and Rossi turned back to the court room. His face wanted to cry. The courtroom was full of the prosecutors from the first case. Even Paul McNulty, now beleaguered #3 at DOJ was there. There was no rejoicing in Mudville. Not total defeat, but not the expected or at least hoped for end."

[ClassWarrior]

1. Your American Pain in the Ass Newsletter?

A publication of the Rape-Publican Party, I take it? :D

NGU.

[Wiley50]

2. I hope you never have to suffer chronic debilitating pain,Class

I really do

[ClassWarrior]

3. Just making a joke about the way I read the title at first.

Sorry if you didn't appreciate it.

:shrug:

NGU.

[Wiley50]

5. It's OK, Class. I've known you (sorta) for several years now

I went back and fixed it

I'm so angry I'm tearing over this

They have to have someone to make the people hate
In the '30's and '40's it was the jews

Now it's Pain Management Doctors and the phoney war on drugs
Not to forget to mention the supposed TERRISTS

[undergroundpanther]

12. Wiley I am with you.

I wish I could hug you and pass you some kleenex.
I am not in bad enough pain to require morphine regularly yet.I hope it NEVER gets that bad.But I have had to haul my ass on the bus to the ER for pain shots.I wore shades so nobody would see I was crying.My doctor has given me shots for pain and shots on top of those to control the nausea the first one causes leave with two sore arms on top of back pain..I have been sent home with needles too. Just in case the pain comes back. I learned how to nail my thigh when I had a vitamin b12 deficiency.So now I can do it even in pain thankfully..I'd hate to try to be learning how to give myself a shot while in pain.
My heart goes out to everybody dealing with chronic pain It sux and mine ain't even bad as some pain others have.

[Wiley50]

14. Like you always are

Thanks for popping up

I'm lying down.

Nitey

[thatgemguy]

4. Not at all funny

I wouldn't wish chronic pain on anyone.

I'm glad there are doctors brave enough to utilize opioid therapy for chronic pain patients like myself.

Any one of us can easily be set up as targets at any time.

[Wiley50]

6. The wife of someone who posts here once was one of Dr Hurwitz patients

I can't remember who it was
hope they see this

[EST]

7. Compassion is a terrible thing to a person who has not yet had to

endure days, weeks and months, even years, of pain; pain so intense and pervasive that huge stretches of time simply disappear into the hissing white noise veil of pain...

Being tried by a jury of one's peer means people who have life experiences that place them in the mainstream, supposedly inclusive of the experience of the person being tried.
There is no way, given the debilitating nature of constant, unending severe pain, they would be likely to be serving on a jury: the strain and pain of that particular forced activity-or inactivity-is just not possible. And if it were, the judgments would not go as they have.
The most the good doctor might be guilty of is allowing his passion to become an obsession.

I know a little of pain and I know that, after a while, pain medication, opioids such as morphine and oxycodone, even pot, become mere distractions, doing little to relieve the actual pain but having enough hypnotic effect to help alleviate suffering.

To sit on a such a jury should require jurors who have spent months, or years and decades trying to find a way to get around chronic pain and try to perform as a human being or have served as a care-giver for a loved one who is beset with such horrible problems and desperate for relief.

Suicide is often the only acceptable solution.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. Did you hear? Washington is talking about passing a "right to die" bill

people who have not lived in constant pain just don't understand.

Maybe some people are starting to get it. :shrug:

[Rex]

8. Only the government gets to dole out pain and relief.

Well God does too, pick your favorite. I wish we could have a War on Idiots.

[illinoisprogressive]

9. I have chronic pain. it is not fun. Luckily I dont' have to take strong stuff yet.

but, I am well aquainted with awful pain everyday. I have fibro and restless leg. I also hurt a nerve in my back and in the beginning when they were looking for what was wrong for about a year I was in terrible pain and off and on stronger stuff like tylenol 3. I now take ultram and it helps. a natural pain killer and non addictive but, it doesn't work on alot of stuff.

[undergroundpanther]

11. Fucking assholes (kick)

Love to see people suffer,goddamn psychopaths.I swear these psychopath pigs need a foot up their tight asses.
What gets me is their LUST for control. Can't let people in pain have pain medicine,for the children's sake they screech..Ooh little sheep can't be on drugs..But the fucking religion drug is reccomended for every ill because there is a manipulating asshole waiting to fuck with your head for control.
And you know...if any of these fascist pigs had the slightest discomfort the laws would bend everywhere to accommodate them getting pain relief.Look at Fucking Rush Limbaugh,He should be in jail and rehab.But if you are Joe Q citizen nobody ,these fuckers will regulate your medicine until you are left with nothing but pain.
The drug war only matters to the people profiting off of it.And maybe scared people who think controlling what other people do will fix thier own family problems. Fuck.

[Wiley50]

13. You Rant 20/20 vision

Thanks for the kick

[enough]

15. k&r