William Hurwitz

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William E. Hurwitz, M.D., is a Virginia based pain management physician who, in the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s, was aggressively prosecuted and convicted by the United States Government for prescribing pain medication to patients who subsequently redistributed it on the black market, leading to the death by overdose of several individuals, including one patient that died within 36 hours of her first meeting with Hurwitz after he prescribed lethal doses of morphine.

Convicted on April 14, 2005 of over 50 counts of distribution of narcotics, Hurwitz is concurrently serving four 25-year sentences and forty-six 15-year sentences, and owes more than $1 million (U.S.) in fines. During the prosecution of the case, all of his property was seized, preventing him from using it toward his bail, legal costs, or fines.

He maintains that he was duped by his patients, and that the enforcement tactics being applied in the War on Drugs unfairly target law-abiding doctors, leading to a situation where doctors must choose between providing compassionate care and accepting personal liability for what their patients do with prescribed medications.

His case has potentially serious ramifications among all practitioners of pain medicine, and is considered by many to be a drastic example of the overreach of anti-drug law enforcement efforts.^{[citation needed]}

His conviction was overturned by the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 22, 2006, due to errors by the trial judge that essentially prevented the jury from considering Hurwitz's defense -- that he was prescribing the medication in good faith as part of the regular practice of medicine.

[edit] External links

Press Release from DEA regarding Hurwitz sentencing
Dr. Hurwitz's web site
Articles by and about Dr. Hurwitz - archived by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
The Police State of Medicine: Reflections on a Case of Regulatory Abuse - Hurwitz's 1998 article
The Police State of Medicine - Part II - Hurwitz's 2002 follow up to his 1998 article
Conviction Of McLean Pain Doctor OverturnedWashington Post article on Fourth Circuit Court decision

William E. Hurwitz is a graduate of Columbia College, completing the BA in three years. Before graduating from Stanford Medical School, he received a Masters in Sociology from Harvard University. He also served in Brazil with the Peace Corps upon completing this MD.