Pubdate: Tue, 11 May 2004 Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL) Copyright: 2004 Tallahassee Democrat. Contact: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444 Note: Prints email address for LTEs sent by email Author: James L. Rosica, Democrat Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) DOCTOR SUSPENDED OVER DRUG-RELATED DEATHS State Order Says Physician Improperly Prescribed Oxycontin An Apalachicola doctor, who reportedly prescribed drugs that contributed to the deaths of six of his patients, has been suspended from practicing medicine. Thomas G. Merrill "was prescribing controlled substances, such as OxyContin, to patients without any medical justification for doing so," according to an emergency suspension ordered by Florida Health Secretary John Agwunobi. OxyContin is a prescription painkiller that is is highly addictive and often linked to overdose deaths. The Health Department also plans to seek Merrill's formal suspension and discipline. The emergency suspension was ordered Friday. Merrill now has 30 days to contest the emergency suspension with the Department of Health and the 1st District Court of Appeal. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement began a yearlong investigation after several people they arrested on drug-trafficking charges said they were Merrill's patients and got the drugs from him, the order said. Patients interviewed by investigators said Merrill "commonly prescribed controlled substances to them without performing physical examinations or diagnostic tests on them," according to the suspension order. Those medications include pain-relief patches, sleeping pills, muscle relaxants and antidepressants, the order said. Several patients also said Merrill "would sometimes issue prescriptions to his patients' family members when his patients were not Medicaid recipients and their family members were." "He has demonstrated a willingness to excessively and inappropriately prescribe dangerous and addictive" drugs, Agwunobi's order said. "Nothing short of (his) immediate suspension ... will protect the public from Dr. Merrill." Merrill's home phone number is unlisted, and the phone at his office rang unanswered Monday. He is a doctor of osteopathy, a branch of medicine that places greater emphasis on the body's muscular and skeletal systems. But osteopathic doctors can perform surgery and prescribe drugs. Agwunobi's order called Merrill one of the state's "leading prescribers of controlled substances to Medicaid recipients." In 2000-03, Merrill prescribed $429,285 worth of medication to Florida Medicaid patients, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration. Gov. Jeb Bush is asking for a statewide database tracking patients taking any of more than 100 potentially addictive medications such as OxyContin. Proponents said the database would help prevent abusers from going to multiple doctors to fill the same prescription. The bill was tabled after Democrats and Republicans alike objected on privacy grounds. Laws setting up such databases exist in 17 other states and have not been challenged on privacy grounds. There were 3,300 prescription-drug-overdose deaths in Florida last year, according to state drug-control-office director Jim McDonough. That's an average of nine a day. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl