Years ago in Arizona Dr. Raj Masih took the time to help me. I do not believe that these accusations are true. This man is a kind, competent, skilled, selfless professional. I have a history of congenital heart defects. My parents didn't keep good records at the time. My best guess of what took place in my open heart surgery when I was 13 years of age is that I had a hole in my heart and the pulmonic valve was somehow damaged. I remember that he took the time to run an ekg and to personally translate all the specifics to my wife. He then recommended a competent Cardiologist to do some follow-up with me. From that point on in my life we were able to keep good records of what might be the problem with my heart. Since that period of time I have followed his advice and recommendations, and have improved. Does this sound like the same individual who could have done such things??? We will be always be grateful for his help, expertise and compassionate care.

I don't believe this and am appalled that the authorities have detained this doctor. I personally know Dr. Raj Masih and believe he is a very ethical and caring physician. He helped me with a cardiac condition years ago and made sure I was able to obtain competent assistance with my needs.

Thank You so much for the last story/comment. Dr Raj Masih cares about his patients and is an awsome person as well as an awsome Doctor. He Loves everyone. He DID NOT do anything wrong. God Bless You DOCTOR RAJAN MASIH. Glad to see Ravi and you practicing together. You are both appreciated and Loved by this community. Thank You for all you do.

As for the facts as I know them on the subject of Dr. Rajan Masih I have a lot to say, but limited space to post it all in, so I'll just give the short recapped version of what I have to say about him as a person and as a physician. Not once, but twice I was seen by a different Doctor on separate occasions and given a diagnosis and ended up at the emergency room within a day or two of each incident (when Dr. Masih was serving as an ER Doctor at Grant Memorial Hospital). The first incident after a "correct" diagnosis by Dr. Masih landed me in the hospital for over a week, because what the first ER Doctor I seen diagnosed as "gas" pains, turned out to be a severe blockage.....second incident was when my family physician said the pain I was experiencing was basically just severe menstrual cramps....and these cramps became so bad that a few days later I went to the ER....and was seen by Dr. Masih again, where he found that I had a mass on my ovary, 4 times its size....he made a call and I was seen the next morning by a gynecologist, and was to have surgery.....complications arose and the surgery was postponed indefinitely....Meanwhile Dr. Masih was no longer serving as an ER Doctor at the hospital. This I believe happened because he distributed to much care, NOT NARCOTICS, to the ER patients, rather than do the “standard patch and pitch”, he performed tests letting his patients leave knowing what was wrong, not just giving the “old follow up with your family physician in 3 days or if the symptoms worsen speech. When Dr. Masih came back into the area a little while later, because of his excellence in care I made an appointment with him. At my first visit he wanted to know why I hadn’t had the surgery and I was only explained that my blood levels weren’t acceptable for surgery and my "family" doctor at the time just put me on some iron pills and a high-iron diet, which unexplainably did little to increase the level. Dr. Masih Immediately had me sent for blood work and by the time I had returned home, there was a message from Dr. Masih, not one of his staff, but from him personally, to return to his office immediately. From his office I was rushed to the hospital and received blood transfusion to replace over half my blood. Where it went to was a mystery, or why my levels were so low until the next day. When Dr. Masih who's only prior medical contacts with me I have already mentioned, knew what was wrong with me, not the Doctor I had been seeing for over 2 years, but the Doctor I had only 3 visits with. Because of prior medical history I am unable to absorb, retain or produce iron, so therefore my body is unable to produce its own blood. If I would not have had this and 2 later transfusion, I wouldn’t be alive today to post this. There is a lot more to say on my own personal patient to doctor care as far as Dr. Masih is concerned, but will shall just say he has save my life a lot more times than mentioned here. But I do I a few more things to say about him and the so called distribution of drugs....nowhere in any of the articles I have read have I seen mention of how he tried to help people with "pill-problem's". I know personally of 4 separate people on more than one occasion that he tried to help by getting them into rehab and all 4 ppl were denied this help. 3 went to Morgantown in ambulances and were basically put back out the door to find their own way home, 2 of which were in severe withdrawal. 1 went to Grant Memorial hospital, and was told by one of the local "mental-health" personnel that his options were to be but into a lockdown facility for basically the mentally disturbed or better yet to go to jail, if he really wanted to kick his habit, because if he were in jail he couldn’t get drugs. Moreover, this is not hearsay; I was there when he told him that, because the "him" at the time was my man of 13 years. In addition, the other 3 people I mentioned were my friends who had problems and wanted help, so I took them to Dr. Masih. So my last statement is actually a question...where are all the facts about how great of a physician and how much Dr. Raj Masih cared about and tried to help is patients.....why do I only see negative media hyped-up stories???????

I am an RN and have worked with Dr. Raj. He is a very caring, highly intelligent and caring physician. How is it that thousands of people died from accidental overdose of acetaminophen with fulminating hepatitis, but the manufacturers do not have to take responsibility for that?

When do patients have to take responsibility for their actions? Did you ever see a man with a leg amputation and the docs only give him acetaminophen, because "they don't want to get him addicted to drugs?" Have you ever seen a chronic pain patient writhing in pain for lack of pain medication? Did you know that hospice docs routinely give thousands of milligrams of morphine to patients, just to get their pain under control?

For those of you who enjoy slinging blame around, this particular physician has gone out of his way to help those people who have not been able to get decent help somewhere else. I have watched his loving, compassionate work with people. You cannot help hundreds of people and take responsibility for all their actions. He is a brilliant physician and a great waste of life if you need to kick and blame him.

You should have gotten hooked on Phonics not on dope, whine complain make excuses, lie on law enforcement at the end of the day...he's going down, GREAT JOB DEA, SHERIFFS DEPT AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HELPED CATCH THIS SUPPLIER

Grammar and spelling have nothing to do with THE TRUTH You are just the IDIOT WE ALL KNOW YOU ARE Dr Masih is being punished for COMPASSION and that is not right!!!!!!! I will tell you all about it when he is found NOT GUILTY! C YA!

Mr. or Ms. "FACTS ARE" SCREAMER would perhaps be more credible if he/she calmed down, learned how to spell, followed the basic rules of grammar, and medicated his/her paranoia. Before Dr. Masih heads off to a federal pokey for a loooooong time, he will have been thoroughly investigated by the DEA, FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, Hardy County Sheriff's Office, been indicted by a grand jury, been tried by a jury of his peers, been defended by his lwyers, and found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Yup, I suppose that will save the DEA from "embarrasement" [sic]

The FACTS ARE! Dr Masih has done nothing but do everything he can to take the best care of his patients that he can and the DEA has fabricated and called some of us to try to get us to LIE about Dr Raj to cover their BEHINDS to keep from embarrasement. Well if you Know Dr Raj YOU KNOW He would never hurt anyone. If someone has died from taking too much medicine, HE DID NOT POUR IT DOWN THEIR THROAT.

The Grand Jury passed down a 24-count indictment today. Maybe some of Masih's apologists should start to focus on facts.

The FEDS ARE calling families of patients trying to get them to say UNTRUE things about the way Raj Masih practices medicine (FACT!) I do not take narcotics! AND You are still a CLOSED MINDED IDIOT!!!!

How very delusional, I'm certain all the DEA has to do is fabricate cases against jack-offs like this. Wish in one hand and s*it in the other my friend, this doc is going down,the feds need to "back off" obviously you love your prescription narcotics or you wouldn't be this upset to bad whiner!

For a Fact the FEDS are trying to fabicate a case against Dr Raj Masih by trying to get the family of patients to say UNTRUE things. The Feds need to Back Off and leave everyone alone. This is just to save them embarassment because they know they were wrong in arresting Dr Raj. KEEP THIS IN MIND when you are running your mouth with all these vicious LIES and gossip.

WHO were the DOCTORS of the other 13 suicides????? What??? without prescription access??? They bought it from a dealer you nuts??? The OPINION of Ruby Doctor??????

I so agree with ya Mo. Yeah for Mo and Raj and Ravi and Me!! God Bless us all and help us all. God also please help these people who are trashing me and anyone who needs antidepressants or anxiety meds or pain meds just to be able to get through a days work so we don't have to draw disability from tax $. Who ever you are?? God help you! You are sooooo closed minded and one side minded? You are right and I am wrong? Is that what you need to hear? Did it ever occur to you that some people have chemical imbalances and need medication to correct or help this problem. OR That a trauma in their life causes them to be depressed or have anxiety. ORHave had injuries that cause pain like that of a cancer patien? Did you ever STOP and THINK? I don't think so! Have a closed off life.

Ravi Masih and Rajan Masih are great physicians. The residents of Hardy and Grant Counties know them well. The DEA and the US Attorney's Office are wasting tax payers money. I have not doubt that the FED is going to embarrass itself. There are many drug dealers and drug producers in these two counties who grow illegal plants and are involved in major drug trafficking activities. If the FED wants to do a favor to the residents of these counties, it is better to put its efforts in fighting with these drug dealers, rather than going after the dedicated physicians who are highly respected and have saved many lives.

How sad that u need a narcotic to deal w/stress and function in society, ever try stress vitamins? or valerian root a dirivative of valium? Do you know the long term effects of this medication? I hope ur new doc will wean u off this u need it whether or not u realize,

It is people like you that make people like ME need VALIUM

Valium helps with stress! some people can't handle STRESS! IDIOT!!!!

I sure can imagine how dosing out valium can make 1 more productive, or was it given for the pain? If he was a good anything he wouldn't be locked up, wake up and smell the coffee...he's a criminal, count ur blessing one of ur family memebers didn't die at the hands of this pusher.

I don't think he is GOD, I happen to know GOD personally. Sounds like maybe you need to meet GOD. However my comment about helping people to become productive means (Now read carefully) would'nt want you to misunderstand. He is a good diagnostician and helps people to find out what is wrong with them and treats accordingly. AND I never said I wanted to be a GENIUS!

Who said u had 2 quit defending ur doc's behavior? U speak of him as if he's GOD making people able to work, come on now, what were they b4 becoming productive members of society? It will all come out in the wash no worries, i must take my "productive" non-medicated behind to work i'll b back later to read ur absurd posts lol ty for the laughs u wanna be genius.

What a closed minded NUT CASE!!! I will NOT stop defending Dr DOCTOR RAJ MASIH. You must not know him to keep saying all these JUDGEMENTAL things. He has helped so many people to become more productive memebers of society and be a ble to work and pay taxes. So Quit trying to be God and judge. YOU ARE NOT.

Looks like the meds ur on aren't working lol u I'm glad ur sick of what we who don't condone drug abuse say and never will we be still, so u may as well suck it up. GOD help u ...idiot

For your info; Dr Masih is not the "source" I am sure the drugs are imported from other cities and states. AND I am not a drug seeker. I am being treated for hormone therapy and depression. SO SHUT UP SMART A-----------. We are sick of you putting down people you know NOTHING of. God help you.

Yup sure do believe especially in this case, if it looks like crap,smells like crap well then..... the need for "pills" causes the defenders to come outta the woodwork keep defending its expected, no one ever wants to give up their "source"

Do U believe everything you hear or read? OR R U envolved? Back off and leave this Wonderful Doctor, Human Being ,Father , Friend and Husband alone. God Bless Dr Rajan Masih

The rx problem is rampant due to DR.s like this that over-prescribe medication, sadly they seem to only raise red flags when someone dies, obviously u folks will continue to defend this behavior until it hits a little closer to home, DR.s need to follow up on patients, call more of them in for "pill counts" and pay close attention to the ones who "lose" their meds......I'll be rejoicing over this arrest for sometime. Excellent job by law enforcement, thanks for putting my tax $ to work!!

I heard from people talking that there was a site concerning Raj and what he is going through and that people were leaving comments with there opinion so I thought why not see what people are saying at first I thought I would be upset reading negative things about him and his practice but the more i read them it wasnt anger I felt it was sadness,but not for Raj I hate with all my heart that he had to go through this but I no that only good will come from this him and his family has come together and are closer than ever and the masih family now know who in this community suport them and will do anything for them not to gain anything but because they are good people and because of this they trust and believe in god more then ever.but my sorrow goes to the uneducated,selfish,ignorant,ungrateful people who have said these heartless things about him i feel sorry for those people and if the truth were to be told the comments came from people who were abusing and hes refused to see them for that reason.do these people honestly think for one minute that a Dr with his education as well as his caring about people in general would treat a patient and give them narcotics if he knew or even thought for one minute that they were abusing or selling these drugs.he doesnt make a penny for writing scripts.think about it people he cares about us as patients and friends but not enough to risk his own freedom,lose his family everything he has worked for his whole life.please tell me that this bashing was done by bored hateful people who had nothing better to do that makes much more since to me then to tell me that someone would actually be dumb enough to believe what they wrote when it makes know since at all.He is a good man and this has made him stronger then ever my prayers went out for him and his family and now they will go out for the ignorant,hateful,selfish,small minded people who are bashing a man that has spent most of his life getting educated so he can help us.god forgive them they know not what they do.

Lets blame a Dr. for some one taking to many pills, or pills that wernt there just because he may, or may not priscribed them. lets not forget to point fingers at law inforcment for not inforcing high way speeds when a crash results in passangers getting injured. but Raj was able to put me back togeather while the drive didnt get a single ticket.... gotta give credit were credit is due. dont follow rules then its your own fault, not a dr whom trust people will follow instructions

WHY must YOU JUDGE people. Who cares if he employ's EXSTRIPPERS. Why is that anyone's business. They are obviously changing their life and have a better job than when they were young and nieve.God knows whats in your closet. BUTT OUT and leave Dr Raj and his staff alone!!!

I am forever grateful to Dr. Masih, my son was having pain to the point he laid on the floor and told me he felt like he was dying-my 10 yr old. I took him to the doctor and even to the ER in Winchester, VA. At the ER they told me it was nothing other than a stomach flu, the doctors office in Moorefield where he saw a PA tried to say it was his appendix. We went through test and NOTHING, the ER wouldn't run a test at all. Finally I took him to Dr. Masih who did some activities with him in the office and told me it was definitely NOT appenditis and actually LISTENED to me which no other doc had at this point. He ordered some test that we couldnt get in for a week. He called the local hospital himself to get my child in sooner. He got him in an hour later. He knew my child was in pain, he was even puking with the pain. After the tests he discovered my son had two kidney stones. After he passed those, others developed and he then referred us to UVA for a pediatric urologist where we still doctor since my son is more prone to develop kidney stones-UVA told us that it was due to my son playing so many sports at once-dehydration. NOT caffeine-cause I dont allow him to have that unless it is a special occasion such as eating out. I will always be grateful because NO ONE listened except him!!! Then when he felt it was too much he referred us on....thank you!!!! I doctored with Dr. Masih for my migraines, he NEVER gave me any pain meds except for the shot I got when I had one. He put me on preventive medicine so I wouldn't get them.

You want the facts. The facts are he has been released from several medical establishments for overly perscribing and questionable RX's. He has perscribed morphine for an ingrown toenail. He staffs his office with several exstrippers. The facts are that his is a very good doctor who has made several very bad life choices. I agree that he has helped many people to better their lives and several to destroy thiers as well.

he is a great doctor he has treated my kids an myself an he is really good at it, my little boy was having seizures an he took great care of him an he went out of his way to make sure he was doing good, in my book he deserve a medal for helping people, an others are just jealous of him id lay my life in his hands an my kids life cause he is just that great of a doctor

I have seen Dr. Masih for about two years. Before I came to him I was mis-diagnosed with diabetes. The so called doctor I was seeing before him wanted to put me on all kind of medication for that. I decided to go see Dr. Masih and he did blood work on me(JUST LIKE THE LAST DOCTOR) and he found that my chlorestorol was so high that I was lucky to be alive. I did not have diabetes like the other doctor said I did so that goes to show you every doctor makes mistakes but I DONT THINK HE DID IT!!!!!!!! So to all the people that talk trash about him can maybe see now that without him I would be dead by now. Dr.Masih and Family, if you see this our prayers are with you and stay strong.

It's a shame that this has happened. There is no way to explain this situation to people who do not practice medicine. We go to medical school and earn the right to make decisions about what our patients should and should not be taking. I believe that what Dr. Masih prescribed to his patients is what they needed to be taking. This could happen to any physician, anywhere and that is probably why many of them will not stand up for this man. So many people keep saying, "Why did he not send them to a pain clinic", well many doctors who have private practices in small towns DO chronic pain management. This is a very common occurance and completely legal. Obviously the DEA made a huge mistake. I have seen this happen MANY times. The DEA is just doing their job, but in this case they were wrong. This is truly discouraging to the medical community. Who will want to step up to the plate and make critical decisions for patients, when this could happen? People expect physicians to have all the answers and never slip up, but that is impossible. If he is getting blamed for this, why isnt the pharmacy, the company that makes this drug, or the drug representatives that sell the drug getting any of the blame? This is truly disturbing! I think this Doctor deserves better! Oh and doctors do not make money by prescibing medications, that is just absurd.

Some of US patients of Dr Raj Masih ARE NOT BEING TREATED for PAIN YOU KNOW???????????

Does this mean pharmacies won't fill RX's prescribed by this doc now that he's under investigation? If so no worries you can always go to the methadone clinic and gets yourselves a little something....

To all the idiots above that don't know ALL THE FACTS! Until you know ALL THE FACTS keep your cooments to yourself. Dr Raj Masih would NEVER hurt a soul. He is a PAIN Mgmnt Specialist. Give him a Break. God Bless Raj Masih MY DOCTOR and friend.

You people supporting this Dr. don't surprise me Mansons followers continued to support him too. Happy withdrawls

you people need to quit trashing this man. i bet you ain't any better. plus we do not know the true story prob never will know. i know for a fact half of the law officers are on drugs why not busted them. it is sad. i may have done it and he may have not no one will never know so mean time people know your rule. so keep your mouths shut if you can't say anything nice.

Keep making excuses for the "DR" (and i use that term loosly) do u really think the DEA just fabricated a case against your doctor, do you have a clue as to how much they have to have to arrest him? Of course you'll be treated like an addict at the ER coz thats what its come down to. It sounds to me that you're worried about getting your next RX, this DR enabled drug abuse and now will pay the price, what he gets he deserves, he gives the "few" decent DR.s a bad name . Good luck shopping for your narcotics

Everybody thinks they know everything about this doctor, but i know him very well. He would never harm anyone, he would give the shirt off his back if needed. He helped patients who could not afford health care anywhere else due to lack of finances and no insurance, where else would you find another doctor to treat you that way. For ex. I have no insurance and the ER treated me like i was crap and the doctor was very mean. Afterwards I still showed no improvement, yet they sent me home. Had i had insurance or the ability to pay, they would have kept me. Yet the stated everything was fine, even the radiologist. However, it was this doctor who had found that something was wrong. Had i trusted what the ER Dr. and radiologist said, I could have developed a very serious condition that could have resulted in my death. So the oath states, First do no harm, well were was the help? Furthermore, all you people talk about how the chronic pain suffers should see or go to a doctor for chronic pain management, well let me give you just a piece of info. that you all dont know and that the papers/news fail to mention. Dr. Masih is a CHRONIC PAIN MANAGEMENT DOCTOR, therefore they were in the right place. He would never give anyone anything if he felt it was not relevant to their diagnosis. So before you people go and begin bad mouthing a person that you know nothing about other than by hear-say, you need to know the whole picture behind the scene. AS far as R.T., sounds to meet he bought the med.'s from somebody, so how is that the doctors fault, he never told him to go buy them or steal them, or however he may have gotten them. This whole situation is only a result of envy of the man, because he was good and was not afraid to treat patients who were in pain. It is up to the patient who receives a rx for pain med.'s to not only take them as they are prescribed but to also keep them out of the reach of children, LOCK YOUR NARCOTICS UP, so your children cannot get them and sell them, which is not Dr. Masih's fault and yet many blame him for that. For ex. most keep their valuable and money in safe place, lock your doors before leaving right? Why do we do that, so it dont get stolen, the same is true of narcotics. So what good has come of this, nothing. It just ruined a family and a good mans practice. It is things like this that results in patients being under treated for pain. All of those who think they know it all, you will experience severe pain in your life at one point, but you will not receive the proper treatment you deserve because this type of situation. Also, there are many people who are in severe debilitating pain everyday of their life, yet they dont get the pain medication they need because doctors are afraid to write pain medication in fear of becoming another "Doctor Masih" (who is very much innocent), yet they will commit suicide because they can no longer live with the pain. So is that also the doctors fault? Should that doctor be arrested? It resulted in death due to undertreatment, should they not be held accountable? So before people go making accusations about Dr. Masih or any other doctor in this situation, you need to know all the facts and look at the big picture. Tylenol and Ibuprofen can't help all types of pain, so then what is a person to do. For ex., I have 2 kidney stones, and if you have ever had any kidney stone you know that it is very painful and you know that Tylenol nor Motrin will help the pain, matter of fact, it wont even touch the pain. Yet when i go to the ER, the doc treated me as though i was there for pain medication ONLY. But when he comes back and finds blood in my urine he realized that i was there w/ a legite complaint and his attitude change, Yet he wrote me a rx for Darvocet, yeah that really helped. NOT. But since when do doctors have the right to treat patients as drug seekers before assessing the pt. I think we all need to reexamine ourselves before we seek out to destroy/hurt others due to not taking responsibilty of our own action. It is all too easy to cast blame on the other person, especially when it results in tragedy. It is so much easier for those to blame doctor Masih, instead of blaming themselves or the person who is responsible.

Oh, yea make excuses the RX problem is widespread wonder where you'll get urs from now that they got ur DOC. Attacking the DEA, PLEASE!!!! He deserves to be locked up, as far as folks w/chronic pain they do have pain clinics. SO many people I know who take pain pills tell me they don't help anyways , why bother? Coz its a money maker thats why, go find urself another easy Dr. u can con outta some narcotics, theres plenty left!

An irresponsible patient misuses their drug and the outcome is death. This sounds like a suicide to me. How can a doctor be charged for this persons death and not even know that they were misusing their medication. If this is so, then I can bet that at least two family members and four out of five friends knew this person was abusing their prescriptions and why are they not being charged for their death, hell they could have saved their life by making an anonymous call to the doctor and telling the doctor what was going on but no instead they did nothing. From my point of view they should be charged before the patient’s doctor should be charged. I would also like to know from the above article if there were 16 deaths in the counties mentioned since Jan. 1997 through March 2007 and 3 of these deaths were the accused patients then who was the doctor of the other 13 patients and were they arrested for prescribing prescriptions to these patients who misused their prescriptions. I think that the state has been looking for something to pin on the doctor for a long time and the only thing they have is to blame him for a death he had nothing to do with. I have faith in our lord above and I know that the truth will reveal. I also know that there are many patients of Dr. Mashi that is in need of his medical expertise.

I have to agree with AM and anonymous on this. This arrest sets a dangerous legal precedent for compassionate physicians who are only doing their job in trying to relieve a patient's pain. How is it the responsibility of the MD what a patient does with the medicine prescribed to him?

This really all just amounts to a DEA witch hunt. There are many people with debilitating, painful conditions whose only choice is to go on a long-term regimen of opioid analgesics. Any pain-management specialist knows this, and also realizes that tolerance will inevitably develop in these patients, leading them to need larger doses.

The statement made by "how very pathetic" just shows the ignorance of the general public in regard to these situations. If you go to any drug store and buy a bottle of Tylenol you have in your hand more than a few "DEADLY amounts" of medication! If you were to overdose, would the drug store be responsible? Of course not! A physician cannot dole out a daily dose of medication to a patient--he gives them a month's supply, and it is up to the patient to take their medication according to directions.

This is just another miserable failure of this countries "war on drugs". You people who are running this man down had better hope you never develop a chronic, painful condition that ibuprofen won't touch, because arresting physicians who are only doing their job will make it very, very hard for you to get the treatment you need!

I don't understand the line ... cause of death to be "a result of combined hydromorphone and diazepam intoxication, without prescription access to pharmaceuticals.

Without Rx access to pharmaceuticals meaning he did not have a prescription for the medications?

And of course a person with pneumonia would be risking their lung function when they add two medications that suppress breathing. But maybe he made no attempt to seek treatment for the pneumonia and the doctor didn't know the situation. Or maybe he was treated for the pneumonia at an ER or urgent care and didn't inform that doctor of his regular meds, we don't know.

I don't think doctors should be held accountable for patients who don't take their medications as prescribed. The way WBOY words things can be misleading, it says 120 dilaudid and 50 valium but gives no information on the directions for those meds. We have no idea the length of time those prescriptions were supposed to last a person. And I'm sure if taken as directed no one with a tolerance would have died. Doctor's just don't start people with high doses like that, you titrate up from weaker medicines or doses. But once a person walks out of the office you have no control over how they take what you give them. You can't go home with everyone and hold their hand while they take their pills. There is no way to stop a patient from taking too much. And sometimes fake pain patients do a really good job of fooling doctors and they don't know the patient is abusing their meds until its too late.

Also we don't know this person's medical conditions. Those types of medicines are usually prescribed for extremely ill patients, most of the time with terminal illness. Regular pain isn't commonly treated with hydromorphone unless your run of the mill pain meds fail. This person could've been near death anyway. There are way too many could be's in this situation to be accusing anyone of anything based on the information in the above article.

I think people should get their story straight before commenting. Read the comments at the other website whsv.com and you will see there are two sides to every story and the story you think is correct after reading this article is NOT the true story. Anyone who has been to this doctor will swear to his innocence... unless they were turned away because they were just trying to get drugs. He DID turn those people away, and that is why they are saying such terrible things about him. Just because this area of the country is in such bad shape with drugs the law enforcement people are trying to find a scape goat. They should really look within themselves instead of trying to point the finger at an innocent man who has helped thousands of people who the other doctors wouldn't treat because they were poor. Get your story straight people!

to think this doctor treated my children makes our skin craw the loser

It's about time Law Enforcement goes after the "Legal Drug Pushers". There needs to be more arrests like this and publicized.

I am always appalled to hear of these cases. These men and women take an oath to do no harm. To act in such a reckless and neglectful manner is a smear on those physicians that truly want to help their patients. My husband works in an office that has a strict policy against prescribing narcotics on a continual basis. If you have a chronic condition requiring prescription narcotics for pain control, your treatment for that specific condition is transferred to a pain clinic. It is hard to believe that a physician would risk so much - the loss of his reputation, the loss of his family but more importantly the loss of the ability to do what you love every day. Nothing is worth risking that.

Thank GOD the DEA & task force caught this fool, approx. 1/5 of the dead patients were treated by this so called "Doctor". I hope he's gets a worthwhile sentence out of this, perhaps something equal to the normal life span these individuals would have had if he wasn't their physician. I'm hoping this is the tip of the iceberg and they will pursue othere like him, over-prescribing DEADLY amounts of medications, because they are EVERYWHERE, cudos to the agencies involved GOOD JOB!