So do you really think that the Supreme Court decision in Ruan/Kahn is going to stop the attacks on doctors for prescribing opioids?  I’ve been explaining the facts, but no one listens.  History has proven this will not happen. In the early 1900’s doctors continued to be charged with a crime for prescribing opioids in spite of the Jin Fuey Moy SCOTUS decision until 3 years later, the Doremus decision made the prescribing illegal.  And today, the same action is taking place.  The US Attorneys will ignore SCOTUS and will still charge doctors. Doctors will continue to be forced to accept a plea for actions that should not be considered illegal.  Here is one example.

Stanley Charles Evans, DO, 63, of Denton Texas has pleaded guilty to “unlawfully prescribing hydrocodone without a legitimate medical purpose”.

Using the “same ol” technique to attack doctors, the DOJ states in their press release that Dr. Evans “unlawfully prescribed approximately 370,000 dosage units of hydrocodone outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” totally ignoring the SCOTUS ruling. This kind of press release also alienates the jury pool with numbers. They also ignore the Ruan decision by using one of their arguments that the patients received their prescriptions without being fully examined or providing documentation regarding their “pain”. They also state that patients were exhibiting drug-seeking behavior. All of these statements involve patient care by the doctor, protected from criminality by the Ruan/Kahn decision.

This case shows why we must work to get the Controlled Substance Act repealed.  Nothing less will restore the medical profession to the standard of care that people respect.  We have lost that because of the government attacks on our medical services.

U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston makes the comment on his plea:  “Sworn to do no harm, Evans failed by illegally prescribing narcotics that harmed many people.”

But that’s where the conundrum exists.  Doctors are sworn to do no harm. What would not getting necessary prescriptions in the hands of patients be?  But the government has created harm to patients as necessary for doctors to follow the law in order to not get charged with a crime.  So, my question to your heart is, is a doctor doing his job treating his patients committing a crime?  He shouldn’t be. So we must get the law making this a crime repealed.

So what did Dr. Evans do that was so terrible?  He pre-signed prescriptions for the patients that were seen by his nurse practitioners. He did this for them whether he was in the office or not. Dr. Evans admitted doing this in August 2021 on a Facebook post titled “Warning Medical Professionals,” that he did pre-sign opioid prescriptions for his patients, advising practitioners not to pre-sign prescriptions for Schedule II drugs.

“I am under investigation by the DEA. I do want you to know that my practice of pre-signing C2 scripts got me into serious trouble. Even though I gave those to appropriate patients, I still broke the law. My reason to pre-sign C2’s was for convenience of my patients and convenience for myself.”

Obviously there was no mens rea to commit a crime, but to do what was needed to care for his patients. But even though Ruan/Kahn speaks directly to the need for mens rea in convicting a doctor, that doesn’t stop the DOJ from attacking good, caring, compassionate physicians just doing their job.  Solo practitioners especially are more likely to be attacked because they don’t have other doctors in their practice that can take their place when they are gone.  And if a nurse practitioner has the oversight of the physician in what they do, they should be able to give patients scripts from the doctor if they are not able to write the prescription themselves. Otherwise, not maintaining care of a patient in pain could lead to elevated blood pressure and heart attack, in addition to many other detrimental events.

Dr. Evans was also forced to plead guilty to healthcare fraud. For this charge, they use the fact that his nurse practitioners billed Medicare and TriCare to his number for some patients. But according to Medicare rules, as long as the patient’s care is not changed, it is appropriate for the NP to bill to the doctor’s number.  Interesting that this was the charge against me in 2008 that I was forced to plea to because I couldn’t afford to take my case to trial. So they are still using this illegitimate attack against doctors, creating crime where none exists.

So what is the point of attacking Dr. Evans?  Confiscation of his assets, including his home, his car, all money in his bank accounts and savings, and even two Rolex watches.  I’ll bet the Rolexes end up on the wrist of a DEA or DOJ agent!  And the car, a Jaguar convertible, will be driven by the government agents for some time. That’s what happens to many vehicles of doctors.  Proof of that is the car belonging to Dr. Salerian in Washington DC received traffic citations after it was confiscated!  And if Dr. Evans had a lot of government insured patients, many of them will now die, which is one of the government’s desired outcomes, saving them money.

U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston also states: “More people die by opioid drug abuse than by vehicle and gun-related deaths combined in the U.S. today.”  He blames this fact on doctors treating pain, when in actuality it is because of the government interfering with patient care and pain management, forcing legitimate patients to the street where they end up overdosing on tainted street drugs.  This would not be happening if doctors could do their job without fear of government attack.

Following the government attack on Dr. Evans, Brooke Columbo, reporter at dentonrc.com, published an article with comments from those who have known Evans for many years that said he’s not some drug pusher. They called him a good man and a faithful servant to his community.

So what is the answer?  We must get the CSA repealed.  That requires offsetting the government propaganda—created for the express purpose of attacking doctors—with the truth.  NO DRUG CAUSES ADDICTION!  I explain the real cause throughout my work.  People need to learn it and pass it on.  Legislators need to hear it from more people than just me.  They’ve ignored me now for 6 years. Put your support behind Doctorsofcourage, and forget the rabbit chasers (CDC guidelines, etc). We hold the key on DoC. If you don’t do this, the suffering will continue, more people will die, doctors will go to prison and the addiction rate will continue to go up.