Pill Mill Prosecution and the Pain Relief Network

Wow. I just read an email about a story that I was vaguely aware of– about a doctor in Kansas and his wife, who were together linked to scores of overdose deaths. But that is just the beginning. The doctor was supported, during his trial, by Siobhan Reynolds, founder of a nonprofit advocacy group called ‘Pain Relief Network.’  She started the group back in 2003, when her ex-husband was suffering from severe pain from a congenital connective tissue disorder.
He (the ex-husband) found relief in combinations of high-dose opioids and benzodiazepines, at least until his doctor, Virginia pain specialist William Hurwitz, was convicted on 16 counts of drug trafficking.  The ex died, by the way, in 2006.  Are you still with me?
The trial of the Kansas doctor, Stephen Schneider, went on for years.  During the trial, Ms. Reynolds apparently helped support what she considered to be a ‘dream team’ of attorneys.  She used the case as an opportunity to increase her visibility, encouraging the Schneiders to aggressively fight the charges against them on the basis of ‘patient rights.’  Ms. Reynolds, through the Schneiders, argued that suffering patients are being denied appropriate care because of a war, waged by overly-aggressive prosecutors, against doctors who prescribe pain medication.
Ms. Reynolds even paid for a billboard adjacent to the road to the courthouse, so that jurors could see, en route, the statement “Dr. Schneider Never Killed Anyone.”  Some might see the billboard as ‘free speech’, but the judge presiding over the case was not amused.  At the eventual sentencing, the judge gave both Dr. Schneider and his wife over 30 years in prison, hoping that the sentences would “curtail or stop the activities of the Bozo the Clown outfit known as the Pain [Relief] Network, a ship of fools if there ever was one.”
We already have enough drama for a made for TV movie.  Actually there already is one, made by Ms. Reynolds, about her ex’s struggle over finding appropriate pain treatment.  The hour-long film is called ‘The Chilling Effect,’ and can be found here— along with a number of vignettes about the efforts of the Pain Relief Network.
Make that the former Pain Relief Network.  Ms. Reynolds was investigated by a Grand Jury, led by the same prosecutor who led the efforts against Dr. Schneider.  After years of what she considered to be ‘vindictive efforts,’ she closed down Pain Relief Network, saying that the organization’s finances ‘were in shambles.’
Within weeks of closing PRN, Ms. Reynolds lost her life in a plane crash.  Piloting the plane, and also killed, was Kevin Byers– Ms. Reynold’s romantic partner and also– get this— attorney for the wife of Dr. Schneider.
Our story ends in typical, made for TV fashion, with all of the loose ends tied up.  The Pain Relief Network is gone, tragically missed by some, and considered ‘good riddance’ by others.  Ms. Reynolds, tireless advocate or misguided fanatic, has left this world for the next.  Left behind are the story-tellers;  I will provide links to both sides, so that readers can have a true, balanced perspective.  From the PRN side, simply go to their former web site, and you will find links to the archives.  The archives contain links to stories in a number of publications, including Slate and the NYT– places where David and Goliath stories are repeated without much challenge, particularly for the Davids.
On the other side is a woman named Marianne Skolek, writer for the Salem News online site, who has little positive to say about Ms. Reynolds and PRN.  For years she has chronicled the epidemic of deaths from Oxycontin, and she has also written a number of articles about the Schneiders, Reynolds, and PRN.  One of the most chilling points in a story by M. Skolek is a a list of the patients who saw Dr. Schneider and who died shortly afterward.  The pattern is clear; people in sudden possession of large numbers of pain pills, who took amounts sufficient to end their lives:

 
The story is not quite over.  The Schneiders are now appealing their convictions, claiming insufficient counsel– namely that the romantic involvement of one of their attorneys with Ms. Reynolds created a conflict that led to poor counsel.  In other words, they may have asked for mercy, had Ms. Reynolds not been cheering them and their attorney to place everything on the line.
As I’ve written many times, the use of opioids for chronic pain is a complicated issue, with no clear ‘good’ or ‘bad’ side. As in most of life’s challenges, the extremes of each position appear…. extreme.  Ms. Reynolds believed that the Controlled Substances Act should be repealed;  I find it difficult to understand how any educated person would adopt such an approach.  But the extreme opposite side leads to enough fear, in physicians, to stifle the use of narcotic pain relievers in people who truly need such relief.  As for me, I keep trying to straddle the wide middle.