The DEA Shut Down a Pain Doctor. Now 3 People Are Dead.

[Mosby]

First, there was the double suicide—a husband and wife from Georgia who took their lives one week after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) suspended the license of their doctor, David Bockoff, a pain specialist in Beverly Hills. After Bockoff lost his ability to prescribe fentanyl and other powerful painkillers on Nov. 1, dozens of his patients became “opioid refugees” with nowhere to turn. The third death came barely a month later.

Another ex-Bockoff patient, 42-year-old Jessica Fujimaki, died Dec. 10 at her home near Phoenix. Autopsy results are pending, but her husband told VICE News he believes the cause of death was complications related to opioid withdrawal and medical conditions that caused severe chronic pain. She left behind two daughters, ages 13 and 11.

The DEA alleges Bockoff prescribed “alarmingly high dosages” of opioids to multiple patients, posing an “imminent danger” to the public. The doctor—who does not currently face any criminal charges—is attempting to fight back in civil court, denying any misconduct and alleging that DEA agents are the ones responsible for harming the public by effectively shutting down his practice with no consideration for people who relied on medications he prescribed.

“Much like a diabetic is dependent on insulin,” Bockoff’s attorney wrote in one court filing, “taking away the controlled substances allowed only by prescription from a DEA registered physician can be life threatening.”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7qqv/dea-beverly-hills-doctor-shut-down-opioids

[The Magistrate]

1. Your Average Drug Enforcement Agent, Sir

Needs to be sent back to the starting line before accumulating any more bad karma by continuing to live a life of assholery.

[RAB910]

7. there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States in a year

Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

[The Magistrate]

10. It's A Great Racket, Sir

Enforcement is essential to it.

Does that, by the way, give information on the percentage of these which owes to prescribed drugs?

[RAB910]

12. Here

The information is out there


Over prescription of opioid pain meds has literally been killing people


https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-opioids-heroin/prescription-opioid-use-risk-factor-heroin-use

[The Magistrate]

14. Surely You Can Type A Percentage, Sir?

You seem well informed.

I am in the midst of other things, and none of this will effect in any way my opinion of the scum which enforces drug laws.

[RAB910]

19. Yet you protect and make heroes out of sleazy doctors killing people and ruining lives so they can

make a fortune over prescribing opioid pain killers

Odd set of values

[The Magistrate]

24. Assumes Sleaze Not In Evidence, Sir

Nothing in the article cited in the header shows this doctor did anything but help people afflicted with severe chronic pain enjoy livable lives. Claims by drug enforcement thugs eager for scalps and gifted with a crippling absence of human empathy establish nothing. A sick and sorry history stretching back nearly a century provides ample demonstration.

That there are criminal doctors I do not doubt. I expect criminal beauticians, criminal plumbers, even criminal men of business can be found. In none of these walks of life are criminals found in so great a proportion as they are found among law enforcement officers. The worst are drug enforcement and customs agents, who have available more profitable corruptions than does your average traffic cop, over and above the usual spousal abuse and associated violence which law enforcement officers commit at greater rates than the general run of the populace.

The drug police bear a heavier burden. They create most of the anti-social behavior they point to as necessitating their valiant efforts against the scourge of drugs. Drug laws declare a great many otherwise peaceable citizens criminals, and habituate them to viewing themselves as outside the law. Enforcement of these laws, by confiscations and fear of prison, raises the price, with predictable consequences of increased crime to secure necessary funds, and privation's damage to health. It accomplishes less than nothing, it does not support the peaceable order most people want around them, it actively degrades it.

[iscooterliberally]

2. The DEA is an imminent danger to the public. We were better off without them. n/t

[RAB910]

8. There were over a 100,000 overdose deaths in a year in the US

who exactly is the danger?

[iscooterliberally]

29. What exactly did they overdose on? What were the circumstances in each and every case?

More people died from excessive alcohol use during the same year. Perhaps we should bring prohibition back? Do you think it might work this time around?

[RAB910]

30. One point

alcohol-related deaths are secondary. In other words, the deaths are caused by diseases that can occur due to excessive alcohol consumption. The opioid ODs are directly caused by the consumption of opioids and/or fentanyl

[Blues Heron]

3. we need a constitutional ammendment giving us an uninfringed right to medicine

Just like the Humpers have, but for medicine. The Freedom from Pain ammendment

[slightlv]

5. I am so behind your idea, Blues!

There is too much damage and harm being done by the DEA, especially to Chronic Pain patients. One of my main heartburns is the way opioid deaths are reported. Nowhere does it seem that any investigative work is done to see what actually happened. Most of the deaths (suicide and accidental) are coming from street drugs - which some are turning to once things like in your OP happen. With all the hassles I have in trying to get my meds from the pharmacy, I've given that route more than a passing thought, myself. But at my age, I'd have no idea where to even look these days. And I guess I should say "thank goodness" for that naivety, else I may have been one of the statistics, myself. There have been those months when the number of pills I'm allotted (like, 3 per day) didn't come anywhere close to easing, let alone conquering, the pain I felt.

Somehow, somewhere, we've got to get somebody to listen to us with more than a casual or biased ear. Real people... people who are in no way abusing their meds and who only want to live as normally as possible... are being worse than ignored. We're actively being thrown to the wolves, as though our lives don't matter. We're being sacrificed on the altar of an ideal. And I say No law about us, without us.

[RAB910]

9. The path to the street drugs and how the ODs happen are being investigated

over use of prescription opioids is a major path to overdoses

[slightlv]

11. That is what I'm contesting, tho...

it's not just overuse. I mean, I still can't see how this can be a party drug or why anyone would want to take more of them. Just taking what I need for pain makes me fight sleepiness and inertia. I still contend that those in chronic pain, when denied the meds that help them cope with that pain for a long enough period of time, will seek other avenues just to put a damper on the pain. Real chronic pain is not something that comes and goes. And, when left untreated, the pain levels can get out of control. When faced with the reality of unremitting pain day after day, night after sleepless night, the mind will turn to other ways to alleviate it.

I can see an overdose happening to a CPP if one "forgets" but my goddess, it's not like one swallows a handful, unless you intend to do that. And then you have other problems that started long before ever ingesting a pain pill. And yes, those individuals need help beyond a pain pill; but I'm getting militant enough about this to say it should *not* be at the expense of those of us who suffer from debilitating pain. Yet, -that- is what is happening today. Ask any of us if we were ready to be booted out of our jobs and careers. I ended up leaving a job I really enjoyed because of my disease, simply because they wouldn't accommodate my disability. And yes, I could have fought it and I may have won the case, but limited means to pursue it and with the stress of the situation throwing me into the constant flares meant they finally wore me down enough to just say "shove it" and take early retirement. At least I was old enough to do that. There are many more out there in the same boat who can't. And attempting to get disability without lawyers is less than useless, I'm convinced. There are too many people who are being turned away as druggies who only want to function, yet our voice is not heard. We don't have a large presence at these discussions, tho I think there may be one group who attempts it. I'm saying don't throw us away and treat us like we don't matter - or worse - simply because we don't fit neatly in a regulated box.

[RAB910]

13. The problem is opioid pain meds are strongly addictive and people build up tolerances

You also have to remember that many of the opioid pain meds were never intended to treat chronic pain. It was meant for battle field wounds and end-of-care pain from diseases like cancer.

[Blues Heron]

16. so dont take them if you dont want them.

people need to keep their noses out of other peoples business.

Prohibitionists are making things worse. We never would have had Fentanyl without this BS prohibition.

[RAB910]

17. So you don't think society should care about the over 100,000 Americans dying every year

from opioid ODs and the many more whose lives are destroyed?

[Blues Heron]

23. I see what people are going through trying to get pain relief

these efforts to control others are totally misguided. They are making things worse by driving it underground (see Fentanyl) The prohibitionists need to wake up to the harm they are causing. They are playing into the hands of the Nazi/Totalitarian DEA.

[RobinA]

31. Especially When

said street drugs contain Fentanyl.

[Mosby]

4. Maia Szalavitz from the NYT.

Link to tweet

"If there is no other signal of criminal intent, this is not a matter for federal law enforcement"

That's what the DEA needs to digest, understand and implement.

[RAB910]

6. I work trying to reduce the alarming number of opioid overdoses

The comments on this thread and even the article act like they don't understand that the overprescription of opioid painkillers is a major path to opioid addiction and then death.

[Blues Heron]

15. the busybodies are causing people harm. People should be free to take the medicines they need

Do you want to shut down the bars because people drink their livers into oblivion? Same argument. We have freedom in this country but you wouldn’t know it from this draconian crackdown. The pendulum has clearly swung too far.

[RAB910]

18. Part of my job is interviewing the next of kin

How do you think they would feel if I shared your comments with them?

[Blues Heron]

20. Please do

[RAB910]

21. I would never

These are people who are suffering because they lost a loved one to addiction. You callous comments would be a combination of salt and lemon juice rubbed onto their wounds.

Calls like I described are emotionally draining on both sides. Your comments suggest an extreme lack of empathy and understanding.

[Blues Heron]

22. Maybe that is what they need to stop them from trying to control others in their grief.

They cant see the harm they are causing others because all they can think about are their people they lost. Then the DEA steps in and we get this utter totalitarian BULLSHIT

[Warpy]

25. Since when do DEA goons have medical degrees?

There is no known upper limit for opiates. There is tolerance built up over time, so the dosage has to be increased to compensate for it.

So some meathead looks at the dosage someone who's been in serious pain for years is taking and thinks it's a lethal dose. It isn't, although it would be for someone who has never taken them before.

This harassment of doctors and their patients by meathead police has got to stop. The DOJ needs to stop it because we know the Klown Kongress won't do it.

Yes, there are a few Dr. Feelgoods out there, However, their numbers are few and you're not going to find them in specialties like pain management. The ones who are distributing on an industrial scale also stick out like sore thumbs.

Untreated pain is fatal, patients resorting to suicide to make it stop. Untreated withdrawal can also be fatal in the types of patients who have severe chronic pain. Asshole cops need to be reined in ASAP. They are not doctors. They should not be trying to practice medicine.

[CountAllVotes]

27. +1

I live in chronic pain.

What I have to go through is not only humiliating, it is also a violation of my rights under The Constitution of the United States.

No one cares about that though.

They are busy chasing after the likes I me, a person with a progressive disease who will be gone soon I hope as this is NO FUN AT ALL!

[Warpy]

28. Or me.

I've been on and off (mostly off) opiates since I was 17 because doctors knew something was seriously wrong but they didn't know what. If they'd figured it out, the treatments were mostly bad. I got diagnosed at 27 when it turned life threatening and interesting enough for Mass. General to sic a roomful of docs on me. Treatments weren't much better then and I went largely without treatment for another 10 years until they'd gotten a bit better.

So I've had decades of pain and every year the fuckers make it harder to get any relief because they feel compelled to practice medicine.