Paul Volkman, MD, the physician for Tri-State Health Care and Pain Management Clinic in Ohio, was sentenced to four life terms in prison for his conviction in the drug overdose deaths of four patients, along with sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years on 13 other drug-trafficking related counts.
Every case I’ve written about is a travesty, but this is probably the worst. Doctors are no more responsible with what patients do then General Motors is responsible for what people do behind the wheel of a car they built. And only 4 deaths in a practice as big as Dr. Volkman’s is actually a credit to his medical care, not a discredit. Again, this is just a way for the government to attack good doctors for their assets.
Dr. Volkman worked at three pain management clinics in three towns in Ohio. Obviously there was a need and not many other doctors were knowledgeable enough or willing to do the job, considering the risk. But like me, Dr. Volkman obviously knew what he was doing. He held an M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Chicago. He had practiced as an emergency room physician as well as in family practice and pediatrics, and became a diplomat in the American Academy of Pain Management. Standard medical schools and residencies probably did not teach pain management when Dr. Volkman attended, as the case in my training in the 1990’s. But the degree in pharmacology and the testing by AAPM meant that he knew how to prescribe these medicines correctly. So here they had a knowledgeable physician taking care of most of the pain in the area. That was a blessing. But the government works with blinders on. They only see what they want to see.
Paul Volkman was attacked because…
According to the press articles about this case, the reasons the government attacked Dr. Volkman were:
- “His DEA Certificate was immediately suspended on February 10, 2006 on the government’s grounds that his continued registration would constitute an imminent danger to public health and safety because of the likelihood that the controlled substances would be diverted to persons who would abuse them.”
So all of the legitimate pain patients get thrown to the street by the swipe of some DEA pen, causing more anxiety, toxicity, and addiction potential. I wonder how many of these people died because of suicide or overmedicating from use of street drugs. (see paragraph at end of blog for statistics) As I’ve said before, the government is a threat of imminent danger to public health and safety when they do this.
- “Dr. Volkman dispensed the most oxycodone from 2003 to 2005 than any other physician in the country.”
The government tracks how many pills a physician prescribes. Even the drug companies do this, to see what the competition is at a doctor’s office. I was told by one of my drug reps that I prescribed the most oxycodone in my region as well—probably one of the reasons I was attacked. Dr. Volkman appears to be the only pain management specialist in a large area. So just by numbers he would be a big prescriber. Then, because of the negativism about OxyContin at the time, most doctors were prescribing Percocet or roxycodone, which took 6 or more pills/day to control pain. That equates to a lot of pills. So the number of pills he prescribes, as long as he is controlling the pain and giving appropriate treatment, should not be a factor.
- “Volkman was the physician at the center of a criminal scheme to distribute millions of controlled substances to hundreds of individuals in exchange for cash”
The government calls his pain management “criminal”. I call it compassionate. Here they try to make him look bad because his office did not take insurance. First, if you don’t have malpractice insurance, you can’t get insurance companies to contract with you. That was my problem as well after the first attack on my office. The cost of getting malpractice insurance, even though no one was injured, went through the roof. So it isn’t a reflection on his medical care that he worked without malpractice insurance. In fact, it is a reflection that he knew what he was doing, and he wasn’t worried about being sued. The government, however, uses this argument of a cash office to make the jury think something was being done against medical standards. In my opinion, every doctor in this country should stop taking insurance and start running cash-only offices. As it stands now, the doctors are working for the insurance companies and the hospitals, not for the patient. Fight this trend by going to the independent physicians in your area.
- “The Drug Enforcement Administration considered Scioto County, where Volkman distributed the pills, one of the worst places for prescription painkiller abuse.”
So are things better there now, with pain patients not receiving their medication? I doubt it. In the last 10 years addiction has quadrupled across the country. Now, because people can’t find treatment for their pain, they are resorting to heroin.
- They accused Dr. Volkman, of running a “pill mill”.
This is simply stigmatizing to win their case. Shame on them. If they don’t have a case without resorting to castigation, they obviously don’t have a case.
- The indictment said patients came from hundreds of miles away and were charged $125 to $200 in cash for visits to see a doctor.
When you are the only doctor willing to take the risk, people have to travel from far away. In general when you run a business where people travel to see you, it is a mark of doing a good job. Why not here? And $125-$200 per visit is not an exorbitant price. The pain management clinics in my area, like the one the government used as an expert witness against me—Dr. Marc Swanson—now cost the patient up to $400 per visit. But they don’t seem to be attacked for charging too much. Only the doctors that the government wants to put out of business. They tried to make me look bad with my $50 per month or $90 for 3 months charges. I don’t know how they kept a straight face when they said I was “in it for the money”.
- Prosecutors said Volkman rarely, if ever, counseled patients on alternative treatments for pain, such as physical therapy, surgery or addiction counseling.
This is a weak argument. Generally by the time a patient goes to see a pain management specialist, he has already run the gamut of alternative conventional treatments. Those specialists have generally given up, and refer the patient to pain management. And since conventional medicine doesn’t cure the cause of pain, but only make it worse, pharmaceuticals is all the person has. Generally the hospital-owned clinics use steroid injections (which only harm by the way), until the insurance won’t pay anymore. Then they discharge the patient with “there’s nothing more we can do” when the truth is, “We’ve made all the money we can off of you.”
As evidence of Dr. Volkman’s personal assurance that he had done no wrong in his care, he maintained his innocence, denied the allegations and said he always acted in good faith. He even demanded the judge release him immediately.
One blasphemous article reported this while reporting on Dr. Volkman:
“More than 1,300 people died from accidental drug overdoses in 2009 in Ohio, according to the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Health. The number of fatal overdoses has more than quadrupled from 1999, when the state recorded 327 accidental deaths, according to the department.”
Attacking Doctors Like Paul Volkman is the Cause of the Deaths from Opioids.
It is my charge that removing doctors like Dr. Volkman from practice is the cause of these accidental drug overdoses. People in pain will take whatever they can get. And they don’t know equivalent strengths of medications, so they accidentally overdose. This is especially easy with methadone, which is cheap and available on the street.
To show that this government agenda of attacking well-meaning and professional doctors is a failure are the following statistics following the removal of Dr. Volkman from practice:
- In 2007, unintentional drug poisoning became the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, surpassing motor vehicle crashes for the first time on record. This trend continued has continued through 2012.
- From 2000 to 2012, Ohio’s death rate due to unintentional drug poisonings increased 366 percent, and the increase in deaths has been driven largely by prescription drug overdoses.
- In Ohio, there were 411 fatal unintentional drug overdoses in 2000 growing to 1,914 annual deaths in 2012.
- On average approximately five people die each day in Ohio due to drug overdose.
Had Dr. Volkman been allowed to treat pain appropriately, these statistics would not be as high.
Addendum from the author:
I have failed in my mission to end these attacks on doctors and pain patients. Through John Bevere’s book The Bait of Satan, I have figured out why—my lack of forgiveness to those who attacked me. As in Mark 11: 24-26:
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
And when you do not do the will of the Father, you are estranged from him and he will ignore you. So we all must forgive the agents who attacked us in order for things to be made right through any of our works.
Jesus said
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
But we cannot lay down our lives for God unless we know Him well enough to trust Him. We must have the assurance that He would never do anything to harm us. He always looks out for what He knows is in our best interest. As a nation, those of us suffering from these attacks must understand that we are serving as God’s messengers of love. We must forgive those who persecute us and love them instead, following God’s will for us. Then and only then will we see fruits from our labor.
So I hope that everyone who has suffered from what happened to the doctor can trust the Lord, forgive those who have hurt you, and help bring this country back to the God-fearing country that our forefathers founded. Then, and only then, can you be a part of the effort to stop these attacks. I look forward to that day.
Linda Cheek is a teacher and disenfranchised medical doctor, turned activist, author, and speaker. A victim of prosecutorial misconduct and outright law-breaking of the government agencies DEA, DHHS, and DOJ, she hopes to be a part of exonerating all doctors illegally attacked through the Controlled Substance Act. She holds the key to success, as she can offset the government propaganda that drugs cause addiction with the truth: The REAL Cause of Drug Abuse.
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PAUL VOLKMAN IS INNOCENT FREE PAUL VOLKMAN
PAUL VOLKMAN MD., PH.D.
Paul Volkman, a doctor who worked at the Tri-State Health Care and Pain Management clinic in Scioto County and has been linked to Fletcher, was found guilty by a Columbus jury and was sentenced to 4 life terms in federal prison for helping distribute millions of highly addictive drugs that authorities said led to nearly a dozen deaths.
Dr. Volkman worked at three pain management clinics in three towns in Ohio. Obviously, there was a need and not many other doctors were knowledgeable enough or willing to do the job, considering the risk. But like me, Dr. Volkman obviously knew what he was doing. He holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Chicago. He had practiced as an emergency room physician as well as in family practice and pediatrics and became a diplomat in the American Academy of Pain Management.
“Volkman’s attorneys had dismissed the charges as a case of “an inflated and irrational fear of the medical science of pain treatment.”
Volkman operated pain-pill clinics in Portsmouth and Chillicothe. A Cincinnati federal jury found him guilty in May of illegally distributing painkillers. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 14 in Cincinnati. Fletcher did not apologize for his actions.
PAUL VOLKMAN MD., PH.D
Supreme Court precedent will not topple quadruple life sentences for a drug-dealing doctor whose prescriptions caused four patient deaths, the Sixth Circuit ruled. During his less than two years at Tri-State Health Clinic, a cash-only practice in Portsmouth, Ohio, that saw 18 to 20 patients a day, dispensing a high volume of pain medication, Dr. Paul Volkman had 12 patients die.
Volkman took the job at Tri-State after a spate of legal woes left him without malpractice insurance or a job in 2003. He obtained both a medical degree and a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Chicago. Investigators found that Volkman had issued one patient with a history of drug addiction a prescription for oxycodone, Soma, Lortab, and Xanax – 660 pills in total.
When local pharmacies became unwilling to dispense the clinic’s prescriptions on the basis of improper dosing, Volkman opened a dispensary in the clinic.
After the feds raided the clinic, a grand jury indicted various officials with the practice, including Volkman, on a series of charges, including unlawful distribution of a controlled substance leading to death.
An Ohio jury convicted Volkman on four such counts, plus other charges, for which he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms. Those sentences were to be served concurrently with the 20 years he got other charges.
All four of the patients whose deaths were tied to Volkman had died within 48 hours of leaving his office with a new prescription.
FOR NOW, YOU’RE WITHIN THE NORMS
also a resident of ky ive been on butrans 20 mcg and oxycodone 10 mg x 4 a day for the last six years and as 5/22/2019 the np had told me the md had went to the local hospital as a hospitalist fulltime and he was no longer coming to his office and she could not write what i have been on handed me a book with md,s and do,s highlighted of the affilate hospital and told me to find another family practioner that could write,i have multiple mri,s that shows cervical and lumbar disc herniation with stenosis and pain in lower back and neck pain , numbness and pain in the arm and feet.as a month later my med,s has ran out and still no md i have medicare and have been on ssdi since 2009 and oxycodone since 2009 x3 10 mg per day.more numbness in my hands and leg weakness also noted ive been referred to both local pain clinic which also lies and tells me that ky does not care for chronic pain that cancer is the only illness that will provide pain meds for !totally liars i guess quality of life is not a necessity if your a resident.i cant continue like this after being to seven md,s within the last month seems to be hopeless as none will write.
I am sorry for the situation you are in. But I’m afraid this same scenario will be affecting more and more people as more doctors are attacked and more patients left without a physician. You have to get active in teaching people the truth that drugs do not cause addiction, and join our communication campaign. Webinars are held Monday evenings at 8PM ET. Link is on the home page.
I am just so saddened and disgusted. I have been existing in chronic intractable pain for ten years. Eight of those years I was on the same dose of medication that allowed me a QUALITY OF LIFE! Up until last March, when my doctor started lowering ky meds, switching things, adding things, playing medication roulette and it is infuriating to me that he is basically taking me back to the beginning when I first started pain management, Ive tried all the alternative therapies MY BODY could take, years of PT, massage, chiro, accupuncture, epidurals, discographies, two FAILED spinal fusions that left me with severe nerve damage, facet injections, nerve blocks, steriod injections, trigger point injections, TENS, backbraces, all of the OTC medications that tore my stomach up , all the NSAIDS that left me with horrible side effects. Opiods were the LAST RESORT! It sickens me that all these so called pain doctors who took an oath to do no harm, to make their patients as comfortible as possible while existing with severe never ending pain, are turning their backs on their patients, are NEGLECTING, ABUSING, DISCRIMINATING, DEGRADING THEIR PATIENTS AS IF WE ARE SOME PILL SEEKING JUNKIE, COMPASSION AND EMPATHY are a thing of the past. Most of them are caving like puppets to the government , killing many law abiding citizens who are chronically ill , as more and more LEGITIMATE PAIN PATIENTS ARE HAVING THEIR MEDS LOWERED TO INEFFECTIVE DOSES THAT LEAVE THEM IN AGONY, MANY WILL TURN TO THE STREETS FOR RELIEF AND MANY WILL COMMIT SUICIDE TO ESCAPE THE PAIN. Dr. Cheek, I applaud you and the rest of the doctors who stood by their oath and helped their patients to have a QUALITY OF LIFE! Thank you for sharing an inside look into what is really going on that the government is keeping at bay. It makes me sick! I am honestly terrified of what’s to come. I cannot believe I live in a country where the torturing of humans is an acceptable form of pain management!!! Our pets get better treatment! If I were to allow my dog to suffer in pain, there would be outrage, I’d be arrested on animal cruelty charges and probably make the news..and yet genocide is occurring thruout this country, at the hands of the the DEA, CDC, FDA and the government . They are all a bunch of corrupt scumbags. I am FED UP with paying the very high price with my health and overall well being because of those who CHOOSE TO ABUSE! Why is saving the life of an addict, someone who CHOOSES to break the law and abuse whatever their drug of choice is, more important than saving the lives of the 100 million LEGITIMATE CHRONIC INTRACTABLE PAIN PATIENTS!?!? Your story has me in tears Dr Cheek, I am truly so sorry you have been thrown into hell..The DEA/government targeting our doctors and LEGITIMATE pain patients IS NOT GOING TO FIX THEIR FAILED WAR ON DRUGS! It’s going to MAKE IT WORSE, MUCH WORSE!! My support and prayers go out to you Dr. Cheek, and to all the doctors who are standing by their patients side, that means the world to a chronic pain patient. God Bless”..
Thank you, Pam, for your heart wrenching comment. We have to get the laws changed in Congress to exempt doctors from the CSA, as the writers intended. Please write to your congressmen. And write, and write, and write.
Oh I do Dr. Cheek, I ruly do not have much energy in me, im pretty much couchridden/bedridden as my pain is overbearing anymore so Im on the IPAD all day long writing to congressmen, President, CDC, FDA, and the DEA, who were so kind to write me back, of course taking blame for nothing, pretty much the author of the letter, lumped chronic pain patients with addicts and she even sent me an 8 page attachment of all their so called guidelines..what a travesty as they know dam well they are the ones targeting our doctors ..Im in the process of trying to find a new dr. The neurologist ive been with for four years has been lowering my meds for a year and I don’t appreciate being made to feel like something I am not, I have called MULTIPLE places and I am so disgusted at the ignorance of these drs offices . Ive been rudely told to get off the pills, go to detox, they dont treat with pills, they are no longer doing pain mgmnt, and so on. Ive been treated like a pill seeking junkie over the phone by hateful, judgemental people who do not even know me or have even seen my DOCUMENTED medical records with the MULTIPLE DEBILITATING CONDITIONS I HAVE THERE THERE ARE NO CURES FOR… Chronic intractable pain not only beats you up physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. The degrading and stigmatizing of people who are existing in severe pain every day pushes many to their breaking point, theres only so much a person can take…boy I woukd love just once to find a compassionate doctor who would say ” I believe you” That would make a world of difference to a pain patient.
Thank you for your heartfelt message. I am so sorry for you and the 60 million+ other undertreated chronic pain patients in the US. I’m afraid most doctors are not willing to take a stand for treatment when it is their neck in the noose. But can you really blame them? Maybe, but we have to continue to work on legislators. There is where change can be made. Allowing the DOJ to put more doctors in prison is not the answer. We have to make them understand that opiates don’t cause addiction and doctors should not be victimized any more than the patients should. Keep writing and keep praying.
After reading the horrible stories of what you all have been thru, makes me even angrier, No, I can’t blame them, this is a terrifying country we live in that is allowing human torture as a form of pain management. If there were this big campaign going that would strip out animals of medication, all the animal activists would be raising hell, people would be held accountable for their actions, and allowing our pets to suffer is animal cruelty,which is a criminal act…why is it acceptable to allow human beings with DOCUMENTED medical records, mri’s, scans, xrays, emg’s, etc..all stating the painful conditions a person has, I don’t get how it’s acceptable to allow chronic pain sufferers to continue to exist in severe pain and the acts of neglect, abuse, discrimination are not considered criminal, it’s terrifying to readall the many comments I see in all of the support groups Im in and hearing many talk of suicide. What is this country coming to
As a patient that is in chronic pain, I totally understand your comment regarding suicide, and turning to street drugs because of the pain. The pain eats away at one to the point that one can no longer function – suicide will stop the pain. Luckily I have always managed to find a compassionate pain management doctor, and psychiatrist.
Would love to interview you, if that is possible?
Sure, that would be fine. Would you like to use Skype?
Thank you, Pharmacist Steve, for reposting this post.