Brunswick ‘pill mill’ trial moves forward ; Former worker testifies patients were ‘druggies’
By Terry Dickson | |
Proquest LLC |
BRUNSWICK | A former doctor at Brunswick Wellness, who is in prison for illegally prescribing addictive narcotics there, testified Wednesday in federal court that he was unpopular with patients because he cut their pills.
Momah read several forms in which patients complained that they weren't getting enough narcotics.
One woman complained that she formerly received prescriptions for 180 30-milligram tablets of Roxicodone and 90 15-milligram tablets of Roxicodone each month.
"This doctor cut me down. I didn't have enough to last,'' the woman wrote.
At least four patients from
One was asking for a combined 300 pills each month, enough to take 10 a day, the records introduced as evidence showed.
When Enmon, who is representing himself, cross-examined Momah, it sounded at times like a debate.
Momah testified he tried to wean patients off high doses and to change their prescriptions to weaker narcotics. He acknowledged that he had pleaded guilty to prescribing drugs unnecessarily when he prescribed Xanax for an undercover officer.
Momah said he wouldn't give 180 Roxicodones a month to a young person.
"It didn't make any sense to me then. It doesn't make any sense to me now,'' he testified.
He also testified that many were lying about their pains.
He would hear people's complaints about chronic pain and "you'd see them run to their cars,'' Momah testified.
The 10-woman, two-man jury had seen prescriptions for patients for Xanax, variations of Oxycodone and Soma. Taken together, the three drugs "closely mimic the characteristics of heroin,'' Daniels testified.
When he went to Brunswick Wellness, Daniels testified, he took along an MRI showing a bulging disc in his back, although it had never given him any trouble. Daniels said he complained, however, of a stiff shoulder, an ailment that would typically require something as mild as aspirin or an over-the-counter pain killer.
Instead, Daniels said, he was prescribed Roxicondone and Xanax during all three of his visits.
During one visit, Daniels said he saw a sponsor bring in as many as 10 people to Brunswick Wellness, pay their fees and fill out all of their paperwork. In such cases, the sponsor takes all the pills and sells them on the street, Daniels said.
Daniels said he has done undercover investigations at about 65 clinics, about 40 percent of which were operating properly.
"I've had doctors call the police on me,'' he said.
"I was hired that day,'' to do triage and ostensibly to handle insurance claims, but the office never accepted anything but cash, Dixon testified.
When Assistant District Attorney
When asked if she ever saw a lot of people in line waiting for the clinic to open, which is characteristic of pill mills, Dixon said she seldom had because she made sure other workers got there first.
"I didn't feel comfortable being around that type of person by myself,'' she testified.
The clinic also had a bouncer in
Dixon verified that Momah was not popular with patients.
"He was cutting down on their prescriptions and they didn't like that,'' she testified.
But then Momah left and Enmon arrived, Dixon said.
"They loved him,'' she said, because he bumped their monthly prescriptions back to high numbers of pills.
Dixon testified that she once saw Enmon with seven people in his office at once and that all she saw him do for them was write prescriptions.
The prosecution has gone through their witnesses and evidence rapidly and may wrap up their case as early as Thursday.
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