Limbaugh medical records ordered resealed

Palm Beach Post ^ | 12/25 | Susan Spencer Wendel

[randita]

Limbaugh medical records ordered resealed

By Susan Spencer-Wendel, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 25, 2003

WEST PALM BEACH -- A judge ordered Rush Limbaugh's medical records resealed Wednesday for at least 15 days while the famed talk-show host and his lawyers appeal an earlier ruling allowing prosecutors to look at them.

But the cat could already be out of the bag: Limbaugh later said on his radio show that prosecutors had ignored his request to keep the records sealed while he appealed and began "rifling" through them Tuesday.

"They couldn't wait; they had to open them. The elected state attorney himself ordered it. The state's attorney, Barry Krischer, personally ordered it from what we're told and his investigators began rifling through my medical records," Limbaugh told listeners on his show.

Krischer's office declined to comment Wednesday on the Limbaugh investigation or whether they've reviewed the seized medical records.

Limbaugh, 52, is under investigation for possible "doctor-shopping" -- seeking repeat prescriptions for narcotics from various doctors.

Prosecutors seized his medical records from offices in Jupiter, West Palm Beach and Los Angeles after prescription records from pharmacies near his Palm Beach mansion revealed large amounts of drugs. Limbaugh got 2,130 pain and anti-anxiety pills, including OxyContin, from one pharmacy over a five-month period, according to a search warrant.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Winikoff sparked the legal battle early Tuesday when he gave prosecutors the authority to look at the records.

Limbaugh's lawyers, including Roy Black, had mentioned in court their intention to file an appeal but did not officially make their request until mid-afternoon Tuesday.

Winikoff's order allowed prosecutors to look at the records, but not the public.

Limbaugh's addiction to pain pills became a public spectacle after an October story in The National Enquirer where his former housekeeper, Wilma Cline of Loxahatchee, said she and her husband supplied the celebrity with thousands of illegal pain pills over a four-year period -- including 4,350 in one six-week period.

Limbaugh then talked openly on his show about addiction and entered a 30-day treatment program.

Doctor-shopping is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Realistically, though, painkiller addicts caught for the first time in the criminal justice system are put on probation and ordered into drug rehabilitation treatment.

Limbaugh says the medical records will not show any "doctor shopping" but vowed to fight their release to prosecutors all the way up to a federal appeals court. Limbaugh claims it's an invasion of his privacy and an unfair "fishing expedition" against him because of his conservative politics.

susan_spencer_wendel@pbpost.com

Find this article at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/local_news_f3ae55ba204e21510033.html

 

[little jeremiah]

If there is no big deal, why was Rush PAYING the extortionists until THEY double-crossed him?

Not to nitpick, but have you read that Rush was paying them blackmail money? I read that he didn't pay, and that's why Cline went to the Enquirer.

[chouli]

What extortionists? The maid? Wasn't that supposedly for the drugs he supposedly got off the street and not the pharmacy? The ones purchased at one pharmacy are legally purchased drugs. Any purchased on the streets are illegally purchased drugs if he did such a things and that remains to be proven.

[CWOJackson]

One doctor on TV said that if Limbaugh took a quarter of the drugs he's been alleged to have bought he would be dead.

[RS]

"Not to nitpick, but have you read that Rush was paying them blackmail money? I read that he didn't pay, and that's why Cline went to the Enquirer."

The cops were onto the Clines at least by Dec 2002 which is presumeably about when Rush was cut off from their supply, the records from Rushs doctor-shopping start after that going to Sept 2003, the Enquirer article was in Oct 2003.

Is paying someone to keep them from going to the cops about your illegal activities a crime in itself ?

[uncbob]

Rush's biggest mistake was not going the Ted Kennedy route and take liquid drugs for his pain and high

[ladyinred]

If Levine is right, there was no doctor shopping. I am not sure how to spell his name, he was on Hannity's radio show explaining the doctor thingie! :-)

[ladyinred]

It is Mark Levin actually! (sigh, getting old is such fun)

[RS]

""Doctor shopping" wasn't even a crime during part of the period that they're investigating Rush. My own guess is they put through the "doctor shopping" law after they found out what they turned up."

Doctor-shopping law was passed in July 2002 -

Clines admitted selling Rush drugs in Dec 2002 -

Doctor-shopping by Rush appears to have taken place AFTER the Clines were cutoff as a source. - Pharmacy records from 3/24/03-9/26/03 were used in Application for Search Warrents.

[deport]

The ones purchased at one pharmacy are legally purchased drugs.

---

Has that been determined yet? If so do you have a link?

They were legal drugs [prescription] puchased through a legal outlet [pharmacy]...... but that doesn't mean the purchases were legal by Florida law does it?

[RS]

"The big guys are coming down on Rush for purchasing over 2,000 pills at ONE pharmacy in a 5 month period? Did I understand that correctly? What is the big deal? This can't be unusual."


The Application for the Search Warrents states that
"Records were located at these pharmacies ( note the plural ) relating to LIMBAUGH and envincing a pattern consistant with obtaining controlled substances in violation of Florida Statute 893."

The attached exhibit were specificaly called out as being from only ONE pharmacy as an example -

One can surmise the records from the other pharmacies would show similar patterns. The application also states that these are NOT the only facts known in the case, only those sufficient to obtain the warrents.

[Ronin]

That's a very good question I have been wondering about myself. I recently went "dentist shopping" after being totally unsatisfied with the quality of work, attitude and prices of two consequtive dental practioners. Am I a criminal?

This whole "doctor shopping" charge seems damn odd to me.

[CIB-173RDABN]

You've come to this decision BEFORE he's even been charged with anything? Wow.

---

"...like Caesar's wife, must be not only virtuous but above suspicion."

Wow indeed. I can form an opinion without waiting for the legal system to tell me what to think.

Did Rush get addicted to a drug? Well he did take a month off to get treatment for something.

Did he break any laws to get the drugs he used? That will be for the courts to decide. But is there an appearance of wrong doing, yes, there is and I can as an individual form an opinion based on this.

[Helms]

CM55- I joined Rush 24 x 7 for the Holidays and to turn my disgust with the medias preoccupation and payback into a positive for Rabbi Rush and myself, as the dittocam and greater access is well worth the price.

My sense is that this WILL BACKFIRE.

[ninenot]

Your last remark indicates that you may actually believe that Vince Foster committed suicide.

Frankly, I doubt that Vinnie offed himself. The only way Rush is going to Ft. Marcy 'like' Vinnie is that HRC will have had him killed first, in his office, THEN dragged to the park where the gun will be emplaced in his hand in an impossible position.

Or, like Ron Brown, he will have a plane 'accident' AND a .45" hole in the top of his head. Or, like the Clintons' ex-private pilot, he will crash into the middle of an Arkansas intersection on a cloudless day. Or, like....

[ninenot]

Regardless of possible charges/convictions--

Your post is correct. He's very intelligent. Furthermore, he's informative (at least in the first hour) and has a good sense of humor. In addition, he's been right a lot of the time, on the issues.

So WHAT if he's an addict? This is not any different from alcohol, except for price and the method of obtaining it...and there have been a lotta alcoholics who were brilliant, good at their jobs, etc., etc.

When the show's quality deteriorates, or when he ceases to be an acutlely observant commentator, that's when I will quit listening.

You go on to find Perfection (hint: He died, rose, and left around 2000 years ago. Doesn't do radio...)

[Huck]

Yes, I have read that he paid blackmail. I think it was his laywer, Black, and I think I read it here on FR in the transcript of the hearing in court. He said Rush first resisted, but then submitted to blackmail, and that after they had, in Rush's lawyer's words, bled him dry, the Klines THEN went to the Enquirer. They took the money and screwed him anyway. Surprise, surprise. And on top of it all, the Kline's get immunity? Looks like they played Rush pretty good.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Why wouldn't Foster kill himself in the comfort and privacy of his own home? Why at work?

I have never heard of anyone killing themselves at work, especially a political activist dedicated to the cause.

[freedomtrail]

Funny. If it were you or me, we would be in jail. Sound familar?

[CIB-173RDABN]

ninenot

You miss my point. I am not looking for perfection. I am only saying that he is in his current state as a result of his own actions. I will not defend him.

You (and others) can defend him, it is ok with me. But to fall back on the he is being persecuted by a "vast left wing conspiracy" is just hypocritical thinking.

If it doesn’t bother you, ok. But I will not give up my standards just because one of our icons is being gored.

---

I think one reason the Democrats have moved so far to the left, and that they are still people like Ted Kennedy representing them is that they do not hold their “leaders” to any standards. To them, to win at any price is acceptable. One reason I identify myself with the right is because we do have standards, and we do allow people to pay the consequences of their action. To my mind this helps people in public view to at least consider what the price will be if they engage in practices in private that would not look good if exposed.

.

I do not set any standards for anyone but myself. I will presume you have standard as well. On this point we will do not agree, and I guess we have to leave it at that.

[little jeremiah]

The only thing I read was that Black said Rush didn't pay the blackmail, and that's why the Clines went to the Enquirer. It's too bad if your version is correct.