Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jul 2001
Source: Palm Beach Post (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.gopbi.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Sanjay Bhatt

PHYSICIAN INDICTED ON MURDER CHARGE

WEST PALM BEACH -- A Jupiter physician was arrested and charged Friday with 
racketeering, drug dealing and first-degree murder in the death of a 
patient who overdosed on the controversial painkiller OxyContin, 
prosecutors said.

Dr. Denis Deonarine, 56, appears to be the first doctor in Florida, and 
possibly only the second in the nation, charged with murder in connection 
with prescribing the opiate painkiller OxyContin, according to the Food and 
Drug Administration, the drug's manufacturer and legal experts.

Two doctors, one in the Panhandle and another in California who was 
originally charged with murder, face manslaughter charges; a Virginia man 
who is not a doctor pleaded guilty this week to felony murder months after 
injecting a partially paralyzed man with the drug.

The felony murder charge against Deonarine, which carries a sentence of 
death or life in prison upon conviction, stems from the Feb. 8 death of 
Michael Labzda, 21, of Jupiter, said Assistant State Attorney Barbara Burns.

"We're not attacking the medical community. We're not even attacking a 
particular drug," Burns said. "What we're attacking is conduct so egregious 
that it crosses the threshold from poor doctoring to criminal conduct."

Deonarine's attorney, Richard Lubin, called the murder charge "meritless," 
but said he hasn't seen the indictment.

Deonarine was in the Palm Beach County Jail late Friday, Lubin said, 
suffering from pneumonia.

A grand jury indicted Deonarine and others on 80 counts, State Attorney 
Barry Krischer said, but both he and Burns refused to give details of the 
indictment.

The indictment remains sealed because not all of the accused are in 
custody, Burns said.

In prior affidavits, investigators have alleged that Deonarine sold 
prescriptions for cash and did not perform the physical exams or other 
tests that would justify the medications and the doses he prescribed.

Prosecutors say three more of Deonarine's patients have overdosed on 
OxyContin and died. But Friday's charges relate only to Labzda's death.

Labzda's autopsy report shows the Palm Beach Community College horticulture 
student's blood contained very high levels of oxycodone, the active 
ingredient in OxyContin, Lubin said. It also revealed he had taken high 
doses of the tranquilizer alprazolam and had been drinking alcohol before 
he died, Lubin said.

OxyContin is a powerful pain reliever that has become popular with drug 
addicts because large doses produce a heroin-like high when crushed and 
ingested. The drug slows the body's breathing reflex and is known to be 
lethal if taken in high doses with depressants such as alcohol. Medical 
experts have speculated that many of the dozens of OxyContin overdoses 
nationwide were suicides.

State law allows someone to be charged with felony murder when someone dies 
in the commission of a felony such as drug trafficking or when someone dies 
from using an opiate drug that the suspect distributed illegally.

Because of Labzda's autopsy report, Lubin said he believes prosecutors will 
try Deonarine on charges of felony murder while engaged in drug trafficking.

Deonarine also faces charges of defrauding health insurers with 
illegitimate OxyContin prescriptions. Prosecutors say he prescribed the 
drug for his office manager and later lover, Wayna McCollum.

Investigators from the state attorney's office and the FDA worked for five 
months to build their case against Deonarine. The doctor has never been 
disciplined by the state Board of Medicine.

Like California prosecutors who were unable to make OxyContin-related 
murder charges stick in a high-profile case against a pain clinic doctor, 
Palm Beach County prosecutors acknowledged it would be difficult to 
convince a court that Deonarine was guilty of murder.

"It's a new concept. We don't know how it's going to play out," Burns said.

Lubin was quick to point out what he saw as potential problems with the 
state's key victim.

"If someone abuses a drug that he's been prescribed and takes it with other 
drugs and alcohol, all in violation of pain management agreements the 
doctor has every patient execute, how is the doctor responsible for the 
patient's death?" Lubin said.

Court records show Labzda had a history of drug possession.

Early last year, after being charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession 
and possession of drug paraphernalia, Labzda pleaded guilty to the former 
charge and was ordered to do 14 hours of community service. And last 
December, the state attorney's office charged him with marijuana possession 
in excess of 20 grams, a third-degree felony.

Labzda died a week before a scheduled hearing on the felony charge.

His family, which in an interview earlier this year refused to comment on 
Labzda's drug use, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Deonarine, 
Walgreens and Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin.

The lawsuit complains that Purdue Pharma marketed the drug "by making 
misrepresentations or omissions regarding the appropriate uses, risks, and 
safety of OxyContin" -- claims the drugmaker has denied.

Deonarine hasn't sold prescriptions or made money from the drug, Lubin said.

"To the extent Dr. Deonarine may have been a victim of misleading marketing 
by the manufacturer that may have occurred, he truly believes, and he has 
always believed, he has prescribed medicines when it was needed medically," 
he said.

The FDA approved the drug for treatment of moderate to severe pain in 
patients with cancer and chronic pain.

On Wednesday, the FDA and Purdue Pharma announced that OxyContin's package 
insert will now bear the FDA's strongest warning. And Purdue Pharma is 
sending letters to doctors alerting them to misuse of its drug.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens