William R. Bauer, MD, 82, a neurologist in Port Clinton, OH with over 50 years of experience was indicted on 200 counts of distribution of controlled substances (fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and other drugs) and 14 counts of healthcare fraud.
As usual, the DOJ used “outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose” as their “crime”. But as repeated with every post, this is the illegal creation of a crime that the DOJ is now doing repeatedly against innocent physicians across the country. In order to create the “crime”, they claim that the doctor
1. Gave inadequate examinations and got inadequate medical histories;
2. Failed to establish an objective pain diagnosis;
3. Failed to consider non-opioid treatment options;
4. Prescribed high doses of opioids to patients without regard to any improvement in pain level, function or quality of life;
5. Failed to consider a patient’s state of addiction;
6. Ignored signs and warnings that patient family members were stealing substances prescribed to the patients;
7. Ignored warning letters about improper prescribing;
8. Patients running out of pills from overuse and frequently requesting early refills,
9. and other actions.
They try to make it sound so bad, but the 200 charges are for each individual prescription for controlled substances written to 7 patients between 2015 and 2018. Then they use Medicare fraud charges on top to try to force him to take a plea because fraud charges are hard to defend against due to the vague laws written just for that purpose.
The fraud charges are that the epidural injections and trigger point injections he administered were done “without medical necessity”. The indictment states that the injections “failed to meet procedural requirements”. According to the indictment, imaging must be used during the procedure so that the injection can be reimbursable by insurance, and that if the injections are ineffective, the billing is thereby “fraudulent”. I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen a requirement of imaging for payment for procedures. And that just increases the cost. Ridiculous!!
The CPT billing for trigger point injections is delineated HERE. There is no mention of the requirement for imaging.
According to the indictment, the imaging he used documented improper needle placement which caused the injections to be ineffective for their stated purpose and, therefore, fraudulently billed to insurers. This is ridiculous. A doctor with Dr. Bauer’s experience doesn’t need a fluoroscope to tell he has put the needle in the right place. The proper placement for an epidural is felt, not seen. Doctors, beware if insurance is going to take ineffectiveness of a procedure to declare fraud. Probably 50% of the procedures done in the country are ineffective.
But the main point of the indictment was the opioid prescriptions, as stated by U. S. Attorney Justin Herdman:
“This physician is accused of recklessly prescribing thousands of doses of fentanyl and other painkillers to people for no legitimate medical purpose.”
Even though the Controlled Substance Act implicitly states that only the DOCTOR can determine legitimate medical purpose:
(56) (C) the practitioner, acting in the usual course of professional practice, determines there is a legitimate medical purpose for the issuance of the new prescription.
But then the USA follows the tried and true DOJ labeling of doctors as “drug traffickers” in order to use the CSA against them. This is an example of government overreach, failure to follow Supreme Court decisions, creating crime where there is no crime, and simply making up laws to fit their purpose—attacking doctors for money.
They then black mark doctors with their comments that are then copied and printed by the media, contaminating the jury pool with propaganda and ignorance, claiming legitimate prescriptions are contributing to the fake government-created “addiction epidemic”. When are the American people going to get wise? The real crooks are the agents and agencies that reap the illegal rewards of attacking physicians for doing their job, such as those quoted in the indictment:
1. U. S. Attorney Justin Herdman
2. FBI Agent Eric B. Smith
3. DEA agent Keith Martin
4. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
5. DHHS-OIG
6. Assistant U. S. Attorneys Gene Crawford and Ava R. Dustin.
Even the Sandusky register, which has in the past, written articles about the good Dr. Bauer is doing for his patients (March, 2019) now spews the propaganda and minimalize what they’ve written in the past, instead of exposing the government lies. Dr. Bauer appeared several times on the Register’s public affairs show “Between the Lines” stating his advocacy for chronic pain patients caught in the opioid crack down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rpJ593sSQ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06zl-31_xUs
Some of his patients, claimed that he saved their lives. “He’s a good guy,” “Thank God for Dr. Bauer,” One of Dr. Bauer’s patients, a veteran, admitted to attempting suicide in the past numerous times. He described Dr. Bauer as a “lifesaver.”
Dr. Bauer is president of the Huron County Medical Society. Their website has information for chronic pain patients who have been refused treatment or had their prescriptions denied by a pharmacy. So he becomes a target of the US government? Stand up against a bullying government and they will attack you. Is that the message?
Meanwhile, the Kasich administration, which pushed hard to reduce the supply of pain pills, saw drug overdose deaths rise every year from 2011 to 2017, from 1,772 in 2011 to 4,854 in 2017. Ending legitimate treatment of pain such as this attack on Dr. Bauer, actually is what has created the fake drug epidemic by forcing legitimate pain patients to street drugs to treat their pain.
Addendum Mar, 2022
Dr. Bauer was sentenced, at the age of 85, to 5 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay over 1/2 million dollars in restitution to the government. That’s what it’s all about, folks–paying for government jobs to attack the next doctor. When are people going to get the message to stop these attacks? It’s all available here and through my ecourses available on www.sevenpillarstotalhealth.com.
If you are tired of innocent, good, compassionate doctors having their lives ruined by a rogue government for money, please join Doctors of Courage membership site. If you are a patient who wants or needs to have opioids for pain management, join us. Click the button below.
To end these attacks, restore pain management, and provide compensation to all the families that have been destroyed by government overreach, we must get the Controlled Substance Act repealed. Join Doctorsofcourage to get that done. Learn what we teach and spread the word. NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!! Let’s end the War on Drugs, Doctors and Pain Patients, end the black market, solve the southern border crisis, and restore proper pain management. It CAN be done!
Addendum:
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 Dr. Bauer 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.
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 assume that many in our community are aware of the compassionate release of martyr Dr. William Bauer from the Morgantown federal facility. Dr. Bauer was diagnosed with terminal cancer. If anyone has more information, let us know.
Bob
He’s not responding to emails. Hopefully someone close to him will respond.
The “experts” often used in these cases are continue to be employed even after they have been shown to committing felony perjury in other cases.
What’s worse is now three years later us the chronic pain sufferers are really being denied the meds we need just to be able to somewhat function with somewhat a quality of life. I myself am dealing with this right now with anew pain doctor. I may go into withdrawals next week because he doesn’t care that I will run out of meds until my next visit. You can’t just cold turkey a patient who’s been on these meds for years. I’m so angry and tired of fighting for my health and well being, I swear if I go into withdrawals I’m thinking about suing him. I have a retethered spinal cord, Adhesive Arachnoiditis, spinal stenosis, RA and Microscopic Colitis and I’m 59, I’m not looking to get high, I’m looking to be able to walk around my house and take a shower! What is happening to this world and the lack of compassion 😞
You (and anyone else needing treatment for pain or might in the future) need to join Doctorsofcourage and support the one group that has the key to success in ending the War against Doctors and Patients. Also, it would have been easy to set me up to give virtual speeches in the area. But no one did. So the truth is not getting to the people. That is what is needed if you want pain management back. Because, I can guarantee that once they are done with Dr. Bauer, they will target another. And it might be your current physician. No one is safe as long as the DOJ can pay salaries and give job security by confiscating doctor assets through this illegal method of using the Controlled Substance Act against us. Repeal the CSA and do away with the DEA.
The DEA targeted me. I have spent 7 years in federal prison and currently on home confinement for the next 3 years.
You need to join Doctorsofcourage and help in the fight to exonerate all of us. Sorry for what happened to you. Hope you can move on.
200 counts for 7 patients – why is this man really being charged? To justify asset forfeiture, because the cartels own our federal drug enforcement agency and this is cheaper/easier than building an actual case against illicit fentanyl and analogs coming into the country.
Please understand that NO drug causes addiction. The War Against Drugs was politically motivated 100 years ago to disenfrancise Blacks and Orientals. Now it is simply to confiscate assets. We must do away with the Controlled Substance Act altogether because it is the cause of illicit drugs, the border problem, and the deaths of patients.
It’s all a sham. The DEA should be ashamed of itself for doing this to an 87 yr old doctor.
It’s all about the money–confiscating the doctor’s assets. They will pay for it with eternity spent in hell.
Its terrible doctors are unable to treat patients because of these government guidelines many terminal patients need pain management. I Hope for the Best outcome for Dr. Bauer
Ever been to an ER in California? The waiting room is packed with illegals & people on Medicaid because ER’s can’t turn people away. They go there for everything! Every hospital & ER doc is guilty of fraud by automatically running up outrageous bills needlessly.
Meanwhile, working slaves in this country spend what little money the government lets us keep to see courageous doctors willing to treat those of us who truly suffer from intractable pain. Some of us have endured the surgeries, epidurals, discograms, fusions, and are in more pain today than ever. Under the DEA & DOJ’s new assault guidelines, doctors can go to jail because we aren’t showing improvement from needless procedures. I don’t want another procedure. I want pain relief! I work and make just enough to not qualify for Medicaid. I can’t afford the insane insurance prices.
Moreover, we now have entire state governments going bankrupt and the precious feds, & judges want their pensions and free healthcare and they figured out they can go and seize the assets of doctors and keep the millions for themselves. Our government doesn’t care about the people, just themselves! Every patient that was cut off because the Feds arrested their doctor should class action sue the DOJ! The pain they caused to the patients has caused untold suffering.
I just watched two of Dr.Bauers interviews
I have been trying to figure out what the heck is happening. He said something that I have been fearing the entire time..He stated that they were shutting down all clinic in the poor neighborhoods. The injuctions are suggested as a first procedure., FYI They are not approved of, theycause another painful diease. So, what I am thinking is this is like the T-4 program in Germany. When Hitler’s regime started. This isn’t a American crisis, there are two entirely different groups are shoved together. That has never happened in our history. It’s a global crisis. Different drugs but all are having a crisis. As well the grand jury is only made of CIA and FBI employees. They don’t see evidence. They are only told what the charges are. No one gets to defend themselves. Hence the non prior visit, non disclosure of warrant. I know it sounds crazy but, All doctors are protected by federal law. And many other rules and regulations,.So why are they ignoring fed law Why is there a global drug crisis, every country all at once?
Dr bauer saved me from yrs of debilitating pain.i feel so sorry for him.his clinic has cut me off of my meds&another pain dr told me today that he dont want to go to prison,sorry about my luck
So join the fight! Become a member! It is only through people getting behind us and supporting the fight that we will ever win. The government is betting that you will just disappear into the woodwork or die. Prove to them that they are wrong.
We love Dr. Bauer!!!!!!! Have been going to him for years! He is a good man and physician and deserves none of this!
Very well written. I’m one of those patients who thinks Dr. Bauer is a life saver. If it weren’t for his expertise I would be a home bound invalid with no quality of life. I guarantee you This witch hunt is being led by someone who has political aspirations and is hoping to make a name for their self.