US doctor caused patient deaths

A jury convicted a Florida doctor today of causing the deaths of five of his patients through overdoses of highly potent painkillers including morphine and oxycodone.

Dr Thomas G Merrill hung his head as the verdict was read. Family members sobbed loudly as the 70-year-old former air force doctor was taken into custody.

US District Judge M Casey Rodgers set an April 21 sentencing when Merrill could get life in prison.

He was convicted on 98 of 100 counts, including illegally dispensing controlled substances, defrauding health care benefit programmes and wire fraud. Merrill’s attorney, Jim Appleman, said he would appeal the conviction.

Prosecutor Stephen Kunz told jurors that Merrill’s practice became a destination for drug seekers throughout Florida.

Mr Kunz said Merrill wrote 33,000 prescriptions from January 2001 to May 2004 and 81% of those were for controlled substances.

“This defendant is accountable for the drugs he prescribed and for these patients’ deaths,” Mr Kunz said in his closing arguments last week.

But Mr Appleman told the jury Merrill was “conned” by patients who exaggerated their pain to obtain drugs and then mixed their prescriptions with cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Mr Appleman said Merrill was trying to help his patients manage their pain.

“If I have diabetes, I want treatment. If I have high blood pressure, I want treatment. If I have pain, I want somebody to treat me for that,” he said.

Merrill was convicted of 18 counts of wire fraud; five counts of defrauding health care benefit programmes, including two counts charging that patients’ deaths resulted from the violations; 75 counts of dispensing controlled substances, including four counts charging that patients died from overdoses of oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl.

Merrill had been charged with six patient deaths either by over prescribing painkillers to gain money from the federal health care system or by illegally and irresponsibly over-prescribing highly addictive drugs. Jurors found him innocent of some charges related to the health care benefit fraud deaths.