Pubdate: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Bill Estep, South-Central Kentucky Bureau PAINTSVILLE PAIN CLINIC FUELED TIDE OF DRUG ABUSE LONDON - A former Paintsville doctor convicted of illegally prescribing hundreds of thousands of pills that fed a tide of drug abuse in Eastern Kentucky will go to prison for 41 months. Yakov Drabovskiy has contested his guilt and filed yet another motion to toss out his conviction yesterday, but U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell denied the request. The judge did not mince words in sentencing Drabovskiy to the maximum term under the sentencing guidelines for his case. Before coming to Paintsville, Caldwell told him, "you were an unemployed physician of questionable medical competency who stumbled on a gold mine of addiction in Eastern Kentucky." Caldwell said it puzzled her how Drabovskiy was able to get a license to practice in the state. Drabovskiy worked for Dr. Frederick Cohn at a pain clinic Cohn opened in Paintsville in August 2000. Cohn hired Drabovskiy, a Russian national, through what was essentially a temporary service for doctors. The clinic quickly gained a reputation as a "pill mill" where it was easy to get drugs. Testimony at Drabovskiy's trial showed that he and Cohn wrote thousands of prescriptions for a standard "cocktail" -- a painkiller, a muscle relaxer and an antidepressant -- often with little or no physical examination. Many times the prescriptions were written before the patients even arrived. People flocked to the office -- among them drug addicts and dealers. There were 10,000 patient files on hand when the state police and FBI shut down the office Aug. 2, 2001. Altogether, the two doctors wrote prescriptions for 6.9 million pills in one year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West said at the trial. Cohn testified the goal was simple: money. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced last week to 42 months. Drabovskiy, however, fought charges of overprescribing drugs, stubbornly representing himself with the help of interpreters and an advisory attorney, Steve Milner. Yesterday, Drabovskiy said he already had been punished by losing his medical practice. West argued that Drabovskiy deserved the maximum because he wrote a large number of prescriptions and kept the office going when Cohn was away. But Caldwell ruled that Drabovskiy was a minor player relative to Cohn, saying Cohn set up the operation, wrote far more prescriptions and made far more money. Caldwell's ruling reduced the potential maximum sentence for Drabovskiy. Caldwell ordered Drabovskiy to report to prison Feb. 2. He could be deported after serving his sentence. Drabovskiy said he will appeal his conviction. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake