https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/414/drbordeaux.shtml

Three South Carolina physicians convicted of drug distribution and money-laundering conspiracy charges for what the federal government described as unwarranted prescribing of opioid pain relievers at their pain management clinic failed to get their convictions overturned, but will be entitled to new sentencing hearings.

Drs. Deborah Bordeaux, Ricardo Alerre and Michael Jackson ran the Comprehensive Care and Pain Management Center in Myrtle Beach until they were arrested in 2003. Prosecutors described the practice as "a front" for drug dealing. Bordeaux was sentenced to 24 years, Alerre to 19 years, and Jackson to eight years.

While the doctors argued on appeal that attorneys for both defense and prosecution had confused the standards for civil malpractice and criminal liability, a three-judge US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Richmond rejected that claim. "The jury entered its deliberations armed with ample admissible evidence and with proper instructions on the applicable legal principles," Judge Robert King wrote in the unanimous opinion.

But the court ruled that they were entitled to be resentenced after even the prosecution acknowledged that the Supreme Courts' ruling earlier this year in the Booker and Fan Fan cases required it. In that ruling, the Supreme Court threw out mandatory federal sentencing guidelines.

The doctors for their part have maintained that they were following accepted medical practice for prescribing opioids for chronic pain management -- as have advocates, including the Pain Relief Network. Bordeaux and others are among a growing number of physicians across the country who have been prosecuted or investigated as the DEA attempts to clamp down on prescription drug abuse.

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