This post was stimulated by comments on Facebook by a standard American believer in the “truth as told by the media”. Because it is in the media, it must be so. But in the attacks on doctors, where does the media get its “facts”? I hope this article goes a long way to open people’s eyes that the media is only putting forth the lies and false accusations made by the rogue DOJ, both federal and state.
The problem with the reality sinking in to people’s heads about what this country has become could quite possibly lead to anarchy. Let’s hope it doesn’t go that far. Let’s hope people work on their legislators to bring this country back to the country our forefathers designed–based on justice for all.
Below you will see where the information comes from that is presented as “fact” in the media. The ONLY source is the press release by the US Attorneys’ offices or state AG offices. The left column is the press release in the case of this doctor, Thomas Keller, MD, recently charged with murder by the State of California. The other two columns are the media reports. The center article is actually the same AP report carbon copied by multiple media. The right article also includes other government propaganda against opioids.
Believe me, nothing that you read here is REAL fact, but simulated by the government to contaminate your mind.
The quotes, marked with a blue line, are coming from the government press release. There is very little information from any other source. Defense attorneys or defendants say very little, if anything. So everything you read comes out of the mouth of the prosecution. Shoud you believe it? H___ NO!
DOJ Press Release:
Attorney General Becerra Announces Arrest and Charges Against Santa Rosa Doctor for Overprescribing Opioids, Second-Degree Murder
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today announced the arrest and arraignment of Dr. Thomas Keller for the deaths of five patients. The patients’ deaths allegedly resulted from Dr. Keller’s practice of over-prescribing dangerously high levels of addictive opioids and narcotics to his patients. Dr. Keller allegedly prescribed powerful narcotics and opioids used to alleviate pain — including Vicodin, oxycodone, OxyContin, Percocet, and morphine — at levels well outside accepted medical practice. Dr. Keller faces multiple criminal charges related to nine patients, including charges of second-degree murder and felony elder abuse in connection with the deaths of five patients. He was arrested on August 12, 2019 in Santa Rosa and remains in custody, with further arraignment proceedings and bail review set for August 20 in Sonoma County Superior Court.
“Doctors take an oath to protect patients and not engage in behavior that can risk their health and safety,” said Attorney General Becerra. “When we see evidence of a crime and patient harm, we must act. The opioid epidemic is destroying our communities and taking our loved ones. The California Department of Justice will continue to prosecute fairly and diligently all those who are alleged to have abused our healthcare system and over-prescribe drugs at the expense of their patients.”
The complaint, filed in the Superior Court for Santa Rosa County, alleges that between October 2011 and July 2017, Keller prescribed a wide range of highly addictive opioids, and consistently and drastically increased his patients’ opioid prescriptions. It further alleges that he increased patients’ opioid dosage while prescribing medications such as Soma, a muscle relaxant, and benzodiazepines — both of which are known to cause a dangerous drug interaction when taken with opioids. Keller often prescribed at maximum dosages and in quantities upwards of 180-300 pills per prescription, resulting in total daily opiate prescription dosages that far exceeded the recommended 50 mg Morphine Equivalent Dosage standard set forth by the Centers for Disease Control. Keller is alleged to have continued his dangerous treatment despite Red Flag warnings from pharmacies and insurance companies, his own observations of his patients, and knowledge of his patients’ deaths from drug overdose.
The case stems from an investigation conducted by the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (BMFEA). Through BMFEA, the Attorney General’s office works to protect Californians by investigating and prosecuting those responsible for abuse, neglect, and fraud committed against elderly and dependent adults in care facilities. BMFEA also regularly works with whistleblowers and law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute fraud perpetrated on the Medi‑Cal program.
It is important to note that a criminal complaint contains charges that are only allegations against a person. Every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
NorCal Doctor Accused of Opioid Overprescription Charged With Murder in 4 Patient Deaths
Posted 7:56 PM, August 14, 2019, by Associated Press Exact Duplicate by KDWN of Las Vegas. Exact Duplicate by Don Thompson, Associated Press on Aug 15, 2019
California’s attorney general said Wednesday that he is charging a Northern California doctor with killing four patients by overprescribing opioids and narcotics, crimes he linked to the nationwide opioid epidemic.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed multiple criminal charges against Dr. Thomas McNeese Keller, 72, of Santa Rosa related to nine of his patients. The charges include second-degree murder in four deaths and felony elderly abuse for a fifth patient who also died. The murder charges could bring a life sentence.
It’s the first time that a California attorney general has filed murder charges against a doctor for overprescribing opioids, Becerra’s office said. His office last year persuaded a state appeals court to uphold the second-degree murder conviction of a former osteopathic doctor, Hsiu Ying Tseng, who is serving a life sentence for the overdose deaths of three patients, but those charges were initially filed by a local prosecutor.
Keller’s defense attorney, John Cox of Oakland, said his client is a longtime pain management doctor, and several of his patients killed themselves and another died of an accidental drug overdose.
He “has always, to the best of his medical ability, attempted to take good care of his patients,” Cox said. “There are no grounds for murder charges in this case.”
Becerra filed his charges after the federal government sought to prosecute Keller last year on the more limited charges of overprescribing medications.
Keller was arrested Monday and remains jailed in Sonoma County awaiting a bail hearing next week.
The charges allege that between 2011 and 2017 Keller drastically increased his patients’ opioid prescriptions while also prescribing other drugs that can cause a dangerous interaction.
They say he prescribed Vicodin, oxycodone, OxyContin, Percocet, and morphine at levels well beyond accepted medical practice.
He would often prescribe 180 to 300 pills in each prescription despite urgent warnings from pharmacies and insurance companies and even after some patients died of drug overdoses, Becerra said.
“Doctors take an oath to protect patients and not engage in behavior that can risk their health and safety,” Becerra said in a statement. “When we see evidence of a crime and patient harm, we must act. The opioid epidemic is destroying our communities and taking our loved ones.”
Cox called the murder charges “an effort to grab attention related to the opioid crisis,” saying he looks forward to exonerating his client.
The charges came from an investigation of his Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse that investigates abuse, neglect, and fraud against elderly and dependent adults in care facilities.+
Santa Rosa doctor arrested on murder charges in overdose deaths of five patients
By Jill Tucker of the San Francisco Chronicle on August 14, 2019
A Santa Rosa neurologist is facing murder charges in the deaths of five patients who investigators said took lethal amounts of opioids that the doctor over-prescribed.
Investigators said Dr. Thomas McNeese Keller, 72, prescribed the drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. He faces four counts of murder and one count of elder abuse. He was arrested on Monday in Santa Rosa and is in jail awaiting a bail review on Tuesday, officials with the state attorney general’s office announced Wednesday.
“Doctors take an oath to protect patients and not engage in behavior that can risk their health and safety,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “When we see evidence of a crime and patient harm, we must act.”
Between October 2011 and July 2017, Keller allegedly prescribed powerful narcotics, including Vicodin, oxycodone, OxyContin, Percocet and morphine “at levels well outside accepted medical practice,” Becerra said. He often prescribed at the maximum dosage and in quantities reaching 300 pills per prescription, levels far above standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition, according to the attorney general, Keller continued to over-prescribe the drugs despite warnings from pharmacies and insurance companies and after learning of the death of patients from drug overdose.
The five deaths identified in the complaint include one in 2015, two in 2016 and two in 2017. Names of the people who died were not included in the complaint.
“The opioid epidemic is destroying our communities and taking our loved ones,” Becerra said. “The California Department of Justice will continue to prosecute fairly and diligently all those who are alleged to have abused our health care system and over-prescribe drugs at the expense of their patients.”
Keller’s attorney, John Cox, said he believes the prosecution of the doctor “is a tremendous injustice.”
“Dr. Keller has been a pillar in the Santa Rosa community as a health care professional for many, many years,” Cox said.
He called the charges an overreach by politicians and prosecutors who want to be seen as doing something about the opioid crisis.
“Everybody wants to be seen as, ‘Hey, we’re fighting the opioid crisis,”’ he said.
Cox also said that the charges involve three suicides and an accidental overdose of a patient who did not disclose he was using the drug Methadone.
“The government has charged them as murders,” Cox said. “I look forward to exonerating Dr. Keller.”
Keller was already facing federal charges related to prescription drugs. In October, a federal grand jury indicted him on five charges related to health care fraud and distributing drugs outside the scope of professional practice. He faces up to 45 years in prison in the federal case.
Keller reportedly suspended his medical practice following the federal indictment.
The Santa Rosa neurologist is among dozens of doctors across the country facing federal or state charges related to the nation’s opioid epidemic. In June, an Ohio doctor was charged with 25 counts of murder for the deaths of patients under his care.
On average, in 2016, there were 731.2 opioid prescriptions per 1,000 people in the United States, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2017, 47,000 people died from opioid overdoses, and 36% of those deaths involved prescription drugs. From 1999 to 2017, nearly 218,000 people died across the country from overdoses related to prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This epidemic is the public health crisis of our time,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in September, “and we are losing far too many Americans each day from opioid overdoses.”
Recent state and federal efforts to combat opioid overdose fatalities have included expanding the availability of naloxone, an opioid reversal drug; strict guidelines related to opioid prescriptions; prosecution of medical professionals over-prescribing opioids; and education and prevention campaigns.
Preliminary data indicates the number of drug overdose deaths declined between 2017 and 2018, as did opioid prescriptions, said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, in July.
“While the declining trend of overdose deaths is an encouraging sign, by no means have we declared victory against the epidemic or addiction in general,” he said. “This crisis developed over two decades and it will not be solved overnight.”
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.
Get a free gift to learn how the government is breaking the law to attack your doctor: Click here to get my free gift
I had a 7 level cervical vertebrae fusion surgery and was promised adequate pain medications by the anesthesiologist (and my husband and I both made it very clear to him how long I had been on a 100mg Fentanyl patch and having 3/4’s of my Opiate pain medication take away. He wheeled me into surgery and told me he would give me a non-Opiate medication for pain relief and I know he thought I was an addict and not a chronic pain sufferer.
I know the difference between an addict and someone like me who takes these opiate pain medication analgesics for the proper reasons; my younger brother died as a result of an illicit Fentanyl overdose, an addiction he had battled for nearly 15 years. His struggles were real, yet given that, to equate someone similar to the conditions he faced and lump chronic pain sufferers and the chronic pain community at large into the same category is doing nearly 2 million people nationwide a major disservice.
At 3 am not even 24 hours after my most invasive surgery to date [and I have had 4 other spinal surgeries], I could not get anyone in the hospital to listen to me or heed my concerns. I was trapped in my hospital bed with a catheter and two IV’s that I was not able to get out and I was so upset. We wouldn’t treat our own pets this way — but humans, that is ok?
https://youtu.be/dHxNfKXP6Yw
And, to make matters worse, I am having trouble, so much trouble might I add, that nobody will help me get ahold of the actual pain medications they administered to me while I was in the hospital. It seems strange to me that I cannot get ahold of something rather simple.
I was discriminated against, and from the moment I walked through those hospital doors till the moment I left, I was highly discriminated against simply because I was a chronic pain patient who was on an opiate pain medication regimen and it was something they shunned me for.
And one last thing: They specifically told me not to carry more than 5 lbs. yet upon discharge, not only did they not show me how to take care of my 3 inch wound but they showed me to the elevator with two bags in hand [both weighing over 5+ lbs. per bag] and waved goodbye. Nobody bothered to walk me to the front door, nobody bothered to put me in a wheelchair, nobody cared.
And I have a 22 minute audio conversation with the chief medical operations officer from the hospital and he did admit that the employees had dropped the ball and it should not have happened. Sure wished he would have known upfront and while I was there!
Now I suffer from PTSD, and will never ever step foot in another hospital ever again.
My faith in humanity is ultimately shot; doctors don’t care, nurses are overwhelmed and don’t care anymore, anesthesiologists are worthless because they base who you are by what medications you are on currently, ect
I am not an untrustworthy individual; so far removed from the person I once was.
~ Sheri Owen
http://www.facebook.com/groups/changeopiateregulations
http://www.VideoYourPain.com
Even doctors now believe the propaganda. The only way to change things is to teach people the REAL cause of drug abuse, and it isn’t the drugs. Until that happens, things are going to get worse, not better. In a few years there probably won’t even be legitimate prescriptions available, only street drugs. But that is probably part of the government plan–to take the load off of the cost of Medicare/Medicaid, through unintentional overdose, even though now the Democrats are trying to get the entire country on Medicaid.