ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM chronic pain complained that without the Richmond physician's care they will become bedridden.
The Virginia Board of Medicine on Saturday revoked the license of Dr. William Hurwitz, a Washington physician who prescribed massive doses of narcotics to patients suffering from chronic pain.
The board cited 20 cases during the past three years in which Hurwitz prescribed far more than the recommended dosage of controlled substances, often without benefit of thorough physical examinations.
The board said Hurwitz will be able to practice medicine in Virginia again after three months if he meets certain conditions. These include hundreds of hours of continued medical education, strict supervision by the medical board, and restriction of the kinds of drugs he can prescribe.
Hurwitz refused to comment after the hearing, saying he wanted to first review the board's 17-page report, but said before the announcement that an adverse ruling in his case would hamper doctors' treatment of certain patients.
``I think it has a chilling effect on doctors' ability to treat patients with chronic pain with effective medications,'' Hurwitz said. ``It leaves very few options for pain relief.''
Hurwitz has 30 days to appeal to the board, but he and his attorney would not say what their plans are.
A patient of Hurwitz's sitting in a wheelchair shouted to the board: ``This is a death sentence for me. Where can I get treatment?''
Eugene Goddard, whose daughter Mary Colleen Hippeau of Jacksonville, Fla., died Jan.22 of a narcotics overdose while under Hurwitz's care, agreed with the decision.
``What the board has done here is more than fair to Dr. Hurwitz and in the best interests of the people of the state of Virginia,'' he said. ``I would say that the conditions are minimal conditions. He still can regain his license.
``I think he's a doctor that may be well-intentioned. He's not God. He has killed people.''
Hurwitz's practice deals with patients from across the nation whose pain-control therapies have failed them.
Hurwitz, 50, says he does not specialize in the treatment of chronic pain, but describes himself as ``a doctor of last resort for people who have failed more conventional pain treatment.''
He had his Virginia license temporarily suspended May14, after two patients died of drug overdoses in January. Stephen Bresko, 36, died in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., and Hippeau died in Columbia, Md. The board began the hearing in July.
The state's complaint listed 30 unidentified patients who allegedly received excessive amounts of painkillers from Hurwitz.
Critics charged that Hurwitz would prescribe massive doses of narcotics, often without seeing his patients in person.
Hurwitz was supported at the hearing by a few patients and other supporters, several of them wearing pins with the word ``pain'' crossed out with a red slash. They insisted that the drugs he prescribed have allowed them to live life without pain.
``There are 200 patients [of Hurwitz's] all over the country. They have nowhere to go. What the medical board has done today is said that you have no right to a real life. Go back to your beds and stay there,'' said Doug Ventura, director of the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association.
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