57 y/o Regan Nichols, DO, a family practitioner in Midwest City, OK has been charged with five counts of second-degree murder over the deaths of five patients. She is also accused of prescribing controlled substances “without a legitimate medical reason”, and in excessive quantities. To sway public opinion, State Attorney General Mike Hunter was quoted as stating that “Nichols prescribed patients, who entrusted their well-being to her, a horrifyingly excessive amount of opioid medications. Nichols’ blatant disregard for the lives of her patients is unconscionable.”
Three of the five “were given a three-drug combination of an opioid, an anti-anxiety drug and Soma, a muscle relaxer.” But these three groups of medicines have been safely prescribed together for years. I know, because I got a lot of patients who came to me that were on them together. I didn’t prescribe benzodiazepines, and after a while I didn’t like Soma either, but many patients were still alive and well who had been prescribed these by other physicians. In general, when patients die on drugs like these, it is because they take them outside of the doctor’s instructions.
The media goes overboard in this case, however, to ensure that Dr. Nichols will not receive a fair trial. The CBS affiliates, especially, are notorious for this. So much innuendo, and just false statements, but they will contaminate the jury pool with people who have already made their mind up from the lies they read or hear.
Inflammatory comments by the media:
- “This pioneering prosecution reflects the nationwide efforts to stamp out the opioid crisis that is killing tens of thousands of Americans each year.”
A. But until people learn the REAL cause of drug abuse and stop blaming doctors, that won’t happen. - “Many of the people who overdose on heroin or powerful synthetic opioids got hooked on prescription painkillers first.
A. That is just pure propaganda made just to attack doctors like this. - “Experts who reviewed her patients’ files said the prescriptions were way over the line or had no medical basis, according to court papers.”
A. But people don’t understand that the only people who present to the Grand Jury are people who will lie to achieve an indictment–government agents.
Richard C. Ausness, a law professor at the University of Kentucky who tracks the issue, said “With the opioid addiction situation now highly publicized, it is not surprising to see some public officials looking to charge doctors and pharmacists with serious crimes like murder and manslaughter.” He said. “I would expect to see more of this in the future.”
A. Basically the government will do whatever they can to achieve a conviction.
Mr. Ausness said the language used to describe Dr. Nichols’ alleged conduct mirrored terms that are used to describe a violation of the federal act.
A. The states are mirroring the federal government creating crime where there is no crime, using Title 21 against doctors to forfeit assets. The states want a piece of the pie.
4. The media (probably because the government made it sound like this), publicized that Dr. Nichols prescribed 1800 pills to “each” patient, when in reality, it was a total for all 5 patients. One news article that did a little research stated that one of the patients received 510 pills total in three different prescriptions of hydrocodone, Xanax and Soma. Another patient received 470.
A. All three of these medications are short-acting, and are usually prescribed up to four times per day. Hydrocodone can be prescribed even more often. So 510 pills is not so out of standard legitimate medical practice, and is especially not “horrifyingly excessive”. But since the government has now labeled this regimen as the “holy trinity”, it is easy to convict just based on innuendo.
- The media printed statistics of the opioid epidemic. However, most of those statistics are based on illegal drugs. But, as one article stated, “Law enforcement agents aren’t just going after drug dealers and Mexican cartels, they’re also targeting pharmaceutical companies and doctors.”
A. The reason for the shift is $$$$. The government found that they couldn’t get to the assets of the drug cartels, so they move their target to innocent physicians to forfeit assets. - And then to beat everything, the articles underneath “Read More” were about illegal drug deaths, heroin abuse and overdose.
State Attorney General Mike Hunter made the comment that he hopes this case puts other pain management doctors on alert. I hope so to, but not to think that Dr. Nichols did anything criminal, but that they could just as easily be targeted next.
Addendum
Regan Nichols, DO was sentenced to 7 years in prison in Sept, 2021. She was also (first doctor I’ve seen them do this) ordered to “help addiction patients either through prison ministry or an outside clinic.” But that was not allowed to happen. On Feb 25, 2022–just 5 months into her sentence–she passed away–a true travesty. The government must be held accountable for her death.
Sending innocent doctors to prison for doing their job has got to stop.
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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Dr. Regan Nichols was found deceased in her prison bed at 4 am 2/25/22
Nothing about her death has been reported by the news media.
Cause of death currently unknown.
No ability to help anyone now
Such a travesty! She was such an awesome caring doctor!
I was one of the jurors in this case and I assure you we definitely struggled with this decision. We were very thorough and took a long time to deliberate with no sleep because we realized the importance of getting this right. Truth be known if it wasn’t for me and 3 other jurors she would of gotten a lot more time. We went by the law at that time and came to the right decision.
Sorry, but any conviction of a practitioner based on the Controlled Substance Act is a violation of constitutional rights and our profession. It is a rogue Justice System creating crime for their own advantage. You can try to assuage your responsibility with your comments, but it doesn’t work. But since you are the first jurer in any case to even step forward and say something, I do give you credit for that.
Dr. Reagan Nichols died today in prison 2/25/2022. She and her husband were friends of mine. We attended the same congregation for a number of years.
So sorry to hear. Hopefully people will get behind making her a martyr rather than a criminal.
Obviously I was not in the court with you. I too was charged and convicted. The expert witness in my case, said that I had no documentation of why I prescribed the medication, no documentation of any diagnosis. It was a lie, he posted himself. My attorney did not challenge him. One patient I got convicted of, fell off a horse during an epileptic seizure and was on 15 mg oxycodone three times a day. The prosecutor, Sarah Wagner, claimed that the patient was not an epileptic but was passing out continuously due to my prescribing of oxycodone–something that was completely fabricated and I’m sure opioids do not make you pass out. If you take high enough doses, too fast yes they can cause respiratory depression but in my 28 years I never had this happen. Any event, this patient had a positive seizure test, called an eeg. She also had multiple documented seizures even before I saw her, and the patient was on opioids before I saw her. My attorney would not present any of this evidence, so all the jury heard was a doctor prescribing opioids making a patient pass out. We call this collusion between attorneys and courts. We don’t know why defense attorneys for doctors throw them under the bus, but I can only imagine that they must get paid off. In my case, my conviction was reversed on my appeal, and now I am suing my attorney for improper presentation and chances are he’s going to settle with me but that will not solve this problem. In my case I sympathize with the jury, because all they heard was what the prosecuting attorney wanted them to hear. I do not know this doctor’s case. People in chronic pain die suddenly all the time because chronic pain is due to chronic inflammation which leads to premature heart disease and stroke and it’s not uncommon for these people to die early. When they do die, the prosecutors and the DEA are quick to blame it on opioids. They couldn’t do that with me, the patient never had an autopsy or a toxicology but they were going to try to pin it on me anyway. This patient, was seen on by me on a January of 2014, she suddenly passed away on November of the same year and I had not seen her for 11 months. She got one script for methadone 10 mg twice a day back in January but that was a 30-day supply and I never saw her again. They still tried to pin it on me. This is how vicious this is. This is hurting the public more than it’s hurting doctors. Jury decisions, are causing mass suicides, mass death. Since I lost my medical license when I was in prison, 62 patients died due to lack of treatment. Sadly, I know that the jury only did their job but this is on the jury. They caused this to happen. Suicides are way way up, there’s 50 million chronic pain patients, who are at risk for dying prematurely because their doctors are going to jail, and again this is due to jury decisions. I’m not calling you a murderer, but these are the consequences for your actions. a 10-year study published in the journal of the American Medical Association, confirmed unequivocally that patients with chronic pain die early due to premature heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease. It was confirmed that when people take opioids for pain they do not die and live longer, happier lives. Unlike Tylenol, and anti-inflammatories, opioids do not cause liver or kidney disease, do not cause chronic hematologic gastritis or gastric cancer. These are things that the defending attorney do not present due to collusion.
Whatever happen to the “OBESITY EPIDEMIC”… that they claim kills 850 people/day… couldn’t figure out how shut down Fast Food for selling too many burgers or sodas ? Couldn’t find a reason/law to seize all the assets of a fast food owner or franchisor ?
All doctors have pts that DIE FROM SOMETHING.. 2600 Americans DIE EVERY DAY OF SOMETHING…
Until Doctors do get the Courage to not show up at their offices, clinics, hospitals, surgery centers, or Anywhere Else they save life’s, this will continue. Doctors are the only ones that can stop this. We can back them up by raising money to help them. But they must take a couple weeks off from any type of Medical care. When people are dying like flies because there are no doctors go operate on them and save them, this will not stop. Ì know it’s rough but it must be done.. it is the only way to stop this. All Doctors Get Together and Don’t Go In For Two Weeks and Don’t Cave In. Let people start dying because there is no one to help them. Then and Only Then Will this STOP.!!!
I agree. We have to join together and do some serious boycotting/unionizing. Please go to https://www.gofundme.com/x6qstx-come-with-me-if-you-want-to-live and show your support. This is someone who can possibly organize our fight and get it done, with our help physically and financially.
Dr. Nichols was a great person and outstanding physician. We (my wife and I) called her the sunshine doc… for her demeanor and we always talked about the weather. Dr. Nichols gave my wife and I a quality of life again. What a shame and disgrace…God took his angel from this terrible earth…Thank you God.
I hope to god this Doc gets a brilliant attorney,,one tht actually want to prove she is innocent,,because 1nce again,,,she is,,Like 95 % of these Doc you kindly publish on your site..I just recently found a document in the government archives,,,,They set this all up,,,in 2004/05,,,to go after doctors aggressively,,like u said and I agree,,even if they have slander.lie and continue to be liars on the stand,,,,it is now their cash cow,,there revolveing door,,,,,,,,maryw