Posted on 04/28/2006 3:11:12 PM PDT by kristinn
Edited on 04/28/2006 3:20:03 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Rush Limbaugh's attorney has issued a statement announcing a settlement of the Florida prosecutor's investigation into alleged doctor shopping by Rush Limbaugh.
Details have been read by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Basically, the charge of doctor shopping is dismissed, with some conditions.
In response to media and other inquiries, Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney, released the following statement today concerning a settlement agreement with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office to end the investigation of Mr. Limbaugh:
"I am pleased to announce that the State Attorney's Office and Mr. Limbaugh have reached an agreement whereby a single count charge of doctor shopping filed today by the State Attorney will be dismissed in 18 months. As a primary condition of the dismissal, Mr. Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years. This is the same doctor under whose care Mr. Limbaugh has remained free of his addiction without relapse.
"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position. Accordingly, we filed today with the Court a plea of 'Not Guilty' to the charge filed by the State.
"As part of this agreement, Mr. Limbaugh also has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation. The agreement also provides that he must refrain from violating the law during this 18 months, must pay $30 per month for the cost of "supervision" and comply with other similar provisions of the agreement.
"Mr. Limbaugh had intended to remain in treatment. Thus, we believe the outcome for him personally will be much as if he had fought the charge and won."
The actions taken today are as follows:
-- The State Attorney has filed a single charge of doctor shopping with the Court. The charge is being held in abeyance under the terms of an agreement between the State and Mr. Limbaugh.
-- Mr. Limbaugh has filed a plea of "Not Guilty" with the Court.
The formal agreement between Mr. Limbaugh and the State Attorney will be filed with the Court on Monday. The terms of the agreement are substantively as follows:
-- Mr. Limbaugh will continue in treatment with the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years.
-- After Mr. Limbaugh completes an additional 18 months of treatment, the State Attorney has agreed to drop the charge.
-- Mr. Limbaugh has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation.
I had a strange sudden lower back internal pain that grew by the minute. I described it to my friend after 2 hours and she told me that it was exactly like her kidney stone pain a while back. So I rushed to find a nearby urologist. By hour three, in his waiting room, I could not sit down and could only pace the floor with an impolite pained expression on my face.
When the doctor finally saw me, he was very wary with me. He said I wasn't perspiring heavily so it shouldn't be a kidney stone. He kept looking at me very suspiciously. He offered to give me a shot of morphine, and I said I was afraid to take it all alone; I'd better call my husband. I could hear him from around the corner saying something about me seeming suspicious and not to give me very much.
Eventually he did send me home with a prescription for what Rush was using, but miraculously the pain vanished later that night and I STILL have that bottle of meds, untouched, in my cabinet. I should go back and show that doctor! He made me feel like a junkie.
ping
Look at it the other way around... if the DA brought the charges he could easily delay trial until it occurs in the heat of the '06 mid-term campaigns, distracting the most effective conservative voice in America at just the time he is most needed. Rush may have realized this and has now avoided all of that potential mischief.
Sounds like it could also be a possible gallstone attack, which is unrelated to kidney stones. Eating foods high in fat content can trigger any stones that have developed in your gall bladder. The stones can become lodged in the bile duct or the common duct, which causes VERY severe pain that can increase for several hours. This can be dangerous if the stones are not able to pass on through the ducts.
Be aware that once you have a gallstone attack, you will likely continue having them at seemingly random times in the future. Time between attacks can vary from just a few days to weeks, months, even years.
You should talk to your regular doctor about this.
That is false. Charges are merely charges... there is no requirement for a plea to be entered for them to be dismissed... either by the DA who brought them, the judge who hears them, or an appellate court who determines they have no merit. Limbaugh plead "Not Guilty" and will maintain that plea. He may, now that charges have been filed and a case opened, appeal the arrest and charges to a higher court.
Those who "plea bargain" will plead guilty or no-contest to a lesser charge and are then required to allocate the facts in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Let's see. Rush was addicted. He admitted it. That is not an unusual result of intractable back pain being treated with narcotics. There is a strange thing with these drugs... if someone is not in pain takes these "pain killers" they will feel euphoria and be in a drugged up state, demonstrating slurring speech, lack of attention, and a tendency to fall asleep... but if a person is really in pain, the same or higher dosage merely relieves the pain and does not provide the euphoria, cause speech slurring or lack of attention, or create drowsiness.
During the period of Rush's addiction, he functioned for 3 hours or more per day on air handling conversations and carrying on complex conversations or speaking off the cuff for minutes on end in complete, well structured sentences and paragraphs, read copious newspaper articles, watched multiple television programs, doing research for his programs, AND traveled around the country speaking, making public appearances, or attending football games, ALL without demonstrating a "Drugged up" slur in his voice or showing a diminution of his powers of observation and repartee. That would indicate to me that the drugs were doing their job... blocking pain... and not providing euphoria.
In addition, Rush did not have a "handful of doctors"; he had THREE... two were partners in the clinic that was treating him for his back pain and both had access to his medical history and prescriptions each had written for him. The third was the California doctor who performed the surgery to place his cochlear implant. Rush took the prescriptions he received from all three doctors to the same pharmacy, hardly the act of a person intending to conceal his "multiple" prescriptions as the pharmacy would ALSO have a list of what they had filled for him. The prosecutor has subpoenaed the records of only that ONE pharmacy. In other words, they did not find another.
The 2000 pills in a six month period filled by the pharmacy is a mere 11 pills a day. I have a bad back. Occasionally, I have been prescribed some pretty heavy duty pain pills. Some of these prescribe that I take 1 or 2 pills every 4 hours as needed. If I were in extreme pain, I could take a total of 14 pills, perfectly legally, in each 24 hours. It would not have been unreasonable for my doctor to prescribe a total of 2,548 pills (14 X 182 days) for a six month period! If I had been in pain for that period (Thank God I was not), would I have become addicted? You bet your bippy i would have.
These are the facts of this "case".
No. It was his name as a disc jockey here in Pittsburgh back in '73. The picture of him with the crippled boy in post # 842 is of him during his "Jeff Christie" days. Check out the combination of patterns on those clothes (shirt, pants, tie) -- eye-catching. ;-)
I met him a couple of times back then as he was a friend of a friend. He may have looked pretty sloppy but thankfully he was more intelligent than he looked.
;-)
That's the Pittsburgh Stillers. to "younzers" (Pittsburghers).
;-)
I tried a mustache for a couple of months back in '73. I thought I looked like I should go out and rob a bank and shaved it off never to have another one.
What about this guy (Arnold Stang)?
http://www.tvparty.com/vaultstang.html
;-)
Sword, thank you for an fine summary. It should also be noted that on at least one, perhaps more occaisions, Rush's primary physician was on vacation or otherwise unavailable. At those times, one of the partners would fill a 'scrip for Rush. THAT is what this idiot persecuter called "doctor shopping"...
Dittos for RUSH, hope he stays clean and pain free.
G
From my understanding Rush was taking at least 80 percocets a day. There is not a Doctor in the World that would write a script for that quantity.
99.9% of druggies consuming that amount would have been brought up on trafficking charges.
I'm a loyal Conservative but....this was a sweetheart deal, no question. I'm all for second chances however, if this story was about a Dem. would we all be so understanding?
Eventually he did send me home with a prescription for what Rush was using, but miraculously the pain vanished later that night and I STILL have that bottle of meds, untouched, in my cabinet. I should go back and show that doctor! He made me feel like a junkie.
Yes, take it back to him! Idiot, Doctor. The problem is that people like Rush make it hard for people to get pain relief..that really need it.
He knew that he could lose his license for inappropriately prescribing narcotics. It is not always an easy call for the doctor, but he certainly should have done a better job of hiding his uncertainty about you.
That is not what the facts that have been presented state. 80 percocets a day would show in his ability to do his job. His job was not affected. Also that much acetominiphen would likely destroy his liver... again, no evidence of that occurring.
Best wishes Rush. Life / Health bump!
My reaction exactly.
What 'facts' are you talking about? Ms. Cline gave testimony that over a 40 plus day period she gave Rush approx. 4,000 pills.
What 'facts' are you talking about? Ms. Cline gave testimony that over a 40 plus day period she gave Rush approx. 4,000 pills.
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