Judge Won’t Stop DEA Despite Patient Deaths
/By Pat Anson, PNN Editor
A federal judge in California has refused to grant a temporary restraining order that would have allowed Dr. David Bockoff to resume prescribing opioid medication to hundreds of pain patients at his practice in Beverly Hills.
The Drug Enforcement Administration suspended Bockoff’s license to prescribe controlled substances on November 1, claiming five of his patients were in “imminent danger” because he prescribed high doses of opioids and kept inadequate medical records. Since the DEA’s suspension, however, at least two of Bockoff’s patients have died -- not because of his medical care, but from the lack of it.
Danny Elliott and his wife were so distraught over his inability to find another doctor and get opioid treatment that they both committed suicide on November 7. Four weeks later, Jessica Fujimaki died at her home, apparently from complications caused by pain and opioid withdrawal. Both Elliott and Fujimaki had incurable conditions that cause severe pain and needed high dose opioids to have any quality of life.
Despite those deaths and the threat posed to other sick patients who can’t find new providers, Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr. sided with the DEA, saying the “potential impact” on Bockoff’s patients was outweighed by the DEA’s concerns about his record keeping.
“The need for careful evaluation, monitoring, and control in these circumstances is obvious; and the combination of high dosages and the lack of documentation justifying those dosages and demonstrating proper evaluation and oversight is troubling,” Blumenfeld wrote in his 7-page ruling.
“As for the public interest, the Court is certainly concerned about the potential impact on vulnerable patients who need treatment to manage their pain. This concern, however, must be evaluated in the context of a case in which the DEA is asserting abusive prescription practices and its decision is entitled to deferential review.”
Bockoff has practiced medicine for over 50 years in California without any prior record of disciplinary action or complaints. The DEA provided no evidence that any of Bockoff’s patients – including the five said to be in “imminent danger” – were harmed while under his care.
One of the five – who is only identified in court records as “EC” – has lived with severe pancreatic pain for over 15 years. Bockoff gave her prescriptions for methadone and fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. In its emergency suspension order, the DEA said that use of fentanyl was “not consistent with FDA approved use,” and put EC at higher risk for addiction, overdose and death.
However, in an email provided to the judge, EC said she needed high doses of fentanyl to be able to work and eat food.
“I have exacerbated pain anytime I smell food, eat food, digest food, or sometimes just randomly,” EC wrote. “This pain medication allows me to practice law and serve as a prominent traumatic brain injury litigator and managing attorney for the largest personal injury law firm in California.
“I am able to rise to this level of practice because Dr. Bockoff counsels me on how to manage my pain and prescribes medication for me that allows me to manage my pain so I can be a contributing member of society.”
Judge Blumenfeld dismissed the email, essentially saying that EC’s medical records were more important than her ability to eat and work.
“While proper pain management can have significant benefits, E.C’s email does not fully address the allegations that she was prescribed controlled substances without proper medical evaluation, monitoring, and documentation,” the judge wrote.
‘More Deaths Could Be Imminent’
Several other patients – whose full names were redacted -- also provided testimonials about their care under Bockoff.
“I want to say I appreciate Dr. David Bockoff as the rarest of physicians that actually cares about my health and well-being,” MC wrote in a letter. “If I no longer could receive my pain medication from Dr. Bockoff I would not be able to walk, do house chores, continue part time consulting work, go to school, drive, not be able to get out of bed or walk even in the house.”
“I suffer from a great deal of pain and without medication my life would be awful. I would not be able to move, stand or do any of the activities that I do perform,” said SH. “Dr. Bockoff has helped me tremendously and I need his service in order to have some quality of life.”
“Dr. Bockoff’s practice is already filled with patients who are in a dangerous medical predicament, with no medicine. As more patients run out of their last month’s medication, more deaths could be imminent,” warned DL.
Judge Blumenfeld rejected those claims as well, saying Bockoff’s attorney, Ashli Summer McKeivier, provided no evidence that Bockoff’s medical practice faced “irreparable harm” from to his suspension or that the DEA erred in suspending his license.
“Plaintiff has not responded by producing substantial evidence to refute claims that he has been improperly dispensing high dosages of the controlled substances at issue,” Blumenfeld wrote. “Nor has Plaintiff shown that there are no other available providers able to properly treat patients who can no longer receive a prescription from him.”
“I’m very disappointed in the judge’s ruling,” McKeivier told PNN.
Munzing Testimony
Much of the government’s case against Bockoff is dependent on the opinions of Dr. Timothy Munzing, a family practice physician who has created a lucrative second career for himself by working as a consultant for the DEA and DOJ. According to GovTribe, a website that tracks federal contracts, Munzing has made over $3.4 million in the last 8 years working for the government and testifying in dozens of cases against doctors.
“Dr. Munzing will testify that Dr. Bockoff’s patient care fell below the standard of care in California and the prescriptions resulting from several examinations were not for a legitimate medical purpose,” the DEA said in court documents. Munzing was not called to testify before Judge Blumenfeld.
McKeivier says the DEA failed to prove there was any “imminent danger” or harm done to Bockoff’s patients, even though Munzing reviewed three years of his medical records.
“The government made an argument that basically disproved itself,” she said. “If you’ve got 3 years of records and in those 3 years of records you cannot point to one example of death, overdose, bodily injury or diversion, then that disproves the fact that any of the danger based on those things is imminent. If for three years you have a track record of it never happening, then how can it be imminent to happen now?”
Bockoff is pursuing another legal avenue by appealing his suspension to a DEA Administrative Law Judge, who will begin hearings in Washington DC on January 19. That hearing process is expected to take nine days. A final decision on the suspension could be weeks or months after that.
