Posted on 01/27/2006 10:48:17 AM PST by JTN
The same judicial system that prosecuted Richard Paey for obtaining too much pain medication is now supplying him in prison with more than that amount to ease his tremendous pain.
60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer reports on this case, in which an accident victim's quest to medicate his pain ran afoul of drug laws, this Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
A long-ago car accident and failed spinal operation put Paey in such severe pain that only escalating amounts of opiate medication could relieve it.
"As I got worse, I developed a tolerance also with the medication and so I needed larger doses," says Paey, who describes the pain as burning in his legs. "It's an intense pain that, over time, will literally drive you to suicide."
Paey, who also suffers from multiple sclerosis, did try to commit suicide at one point.
After moving to Florida with his wife and children, Paey says doctors there were wary of prescribing the amounts of pills he needed as that would draw the attention of law enforcement. So he persuaded his longtime New Jersey doctor to continue prescribing his medication in the high amounts necessary for relief. The doctor agreed to fax and mail prescriptions and sometimes verified them to pharmacists.
Paey's frequent refills did draw attention and, before arresting him for drug trafficking, the Drug Enforcement Agency visited his New Jersey physician, Dr. Stephen Nurkiewicz. When confronted by agents about the number of pills Paey had purchased — 18,000 in two years — Nurkiewicz rescinded initial statements of support for his former patient and said Paey was forging prescriptions.
"In Richard Paey's room ... were the raw materials to make prescriptions," Florida State Prosecutor Scott Andringa says. "They found a lot of documents that suggested forging prescriptions."
They also found 60 empty bottles of pain relievers, some of which surveillance teams had watched Paey purchase. Andringa says there was no evidence that Paey was selling his drugs, "but it is a reasonable inference from the facts that he was selling them, because no person can consume all these pills."
Paey, confined to a wheelchair, is now serving 25 years in a Florida prison. A jury convicted him of 15 counts of prescription forgery, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and drug trafficking. He had the choice of entering a guilty plea in exchange for no jail time but, for him, that was no choice, says Paey.
"Had I accepted a plea bargain and carried that conviction on my record, I would have found it near impossible to get any medication," he says. "I didn't want to plead guilty to something that I didn't do."
Paey denies selling his medication, saying he took and needed all 18,000 pills. This scenario — 25 pills a day — is plausible, says Dr. Russell Portnoy, chairman of the Department of Pain Medicine at New York’s Beth Israel Hospital.
Once acclimated to a drug, patients can regularly take what would be lethal doses to ordinary people, Portnoy says.
"It really sounds like society used a mallet to try to handle a problem that required a much more subtle approach," says Portnoy. "If they had taken this man who had engaged in behaviors that were unacceptable and treated it as a medical issue, it seems like this patient would have had better pain control and a functional life instead of being in prison."
Andringa disagrees. "This case is not about pain patients, it's just not. This case is about prescription fraud. We were very reasonable in this case. But once somebody says, 'I'm not going to accept a plea offer however reasonable it is …' "
Paey gets all the medication he needs now, in larger doses than he was taking before, from the state through a pump connected directly to his spine. He is appealing his conviction.
Also, both articles "inadvertently" left out the fact that he was convicted of obtaining the drugs by using a photocopy of the last prescription his doctor wrote for him.
Minor points, I'm sure.
"Detectives tracked Paey as he filled prescriptions for 1,200 pills from January 1997 until his arrest that March."
Hmmmmm. That equates to about 12 pills/day right before he was arrested. But the article above states that he was using 25 pills/day, average, over two years.
Was he cutting down on his dosage? Ya think?
"To the credit of Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe, Paey was offered a generous plea deal of house-arrest and probation, but he stubbornly refused it. Later plea offers for a five-year prison sentence were also rejected."
For once we agree! The "persecutor" in this case should be in prison for life for offering such a lenient deal.
Who knows what the back story on this was though. It seems odd to me that the plea deal went from house arrest to five years in prison. Usually the offer gets better in negotiations, not worse. Somebody pi$$ed somebody off. I wonder how long the guy would have been under house arrest if he had have taken the original offer? Was it years or months or days? Did his lawyer tell the prosecutor to "F" off? Did the lawyer fill his client's head with a bunch of false hope? I'm kind of guessing here that the one who really screwed up was this guy's lawyer. I've had pretty good luck though with cases like this where a person has gotten addicted to drugs that were originally prescribed for a legitimate health problem. I've never had to take one to trial though. Usually we've been able to work something out involving fines, probation or a suspended sentence, and some sort of treatment/medication management, and the right to petition for expungement of the criminal record in a few years. This prosecutor's offer may have been unreasonable by local standards where this case was prosecuted. A defense attorney who knows what he is doing knows what is reasonable and what is not in his jurisdiction. It could be that the prosecutor was unreasonable. It could be that the client was unreasonable. It could be that the defense attorney was unreasonable and really dropped the ball. Who knows? The result sure was bad for this poor guy who had to go to prison for all these years though. Whether he forged the prescriptions or not, he was probably taking every bit of that medication himself.
"Whether he forged the prescriptions or not, he was probably taking every bit of that medication himself."
Did you read my post #42?
"Usually the offer gets better in negotiations, not worse."
Better than house arrest and probation? My guess is that he was selling to supplement his disability income, supported by my post #42. He was able to get a morphine drip in prison -- why not out of prison? One reason: He can't sell a morphine drip.
You know as well as I do that this case was ripe for jury nullification. Tragic accident, bungled surgery, wheelchair bound paraplegic, loving wife and family, in severe pain ... hell, I bet even you could have gotten that jury to vote not guilty.
Nope. Unanimous, even knowing the mandatory minimum sentence and what that would mean. There's gotta be alot we don't know.
It seems that the legislature is at fault, not the prosecutor.
Yeah. It could really interfere with his golf game.
"Juries often have no idea what type of sentence people they convict will end up with ..."
Uh-huh. They convicted him of 15 counts of prescription forgery, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and drug trafficking. In Florida. I'd say they had a pretty good idea that the sentence would be severe.
"Like I said, I don't know how much house arrest and probation he was going to get."
Neither do I, but how much can it be when the alternative is 25 years in the slammer? Like, "Gee, I can't do three years of house arrest. Give me 25 years in prison instead"?
Maybe he rolled the dice, thinking the jury would never convict? He bet the farm and rolled a seven. Now he's crying about it and he wants a do-over. Pffft.
It's the prosecutor who has discretion on pursuing a particular case, in structuring plea deals, and influencing the sentence. Andringa chose to be a messianic a*hole in this case, so it's all his fault.
After all, doesn't the same apply - same charges, same state - to the Democrat who is trying to nail Rush?
Why? What makes you say that? Where are your facts? Was he taking 12 pills/day or 25 pills/day? BIG difference.
If he's taking 12 pills/day, how do you explain where 18,000 pills over two years went? If he's taking 25 pills/day, then why did he fill prescriptions for only 1,200 pills for the three months from January 1997 to March?
You don't know, but in two posts now have insisted that the pills were for him. And you can't understand my "tone" with you. It's called frustration, debating with one who coddles drug traffickers (the poor, unwitting victims).
There. I fixed it.
I remain in favor of making certain drugs illegal, but it sounds as if this poor guy got railroaded in every sense of the word. Taking drugs for pain relief is far different than taking them to get high and act irresponsibly.
So, Republicans, how's that "limited government" thingie you've been promising us for decades coming along, hmmmmmmm?
I bet Richard Paey is very appreciative that "limited government" parasites are in charge.
More Jury Nullification is needed every day, to counter Big Stupid Republican Government.
It's the Legislature's fault, it's the prosecutor's fault and it's the jury's fault for not telling both the former to shove stupid laws up their asses.
If I were on that jury, he'd be a free man.
Bump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.