Word: nelsons
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Nelson Mandela. I suspect he's the greatest living person of the last 100 years. As far as business, Herb Kelleher, [founder of] Southwest [Airlines], is incredible. The only problem is, when I have lunch with him, I end up starting to smoke again, so I'm trying not to see him for a while...
...cold morning last April, in the shadow of Montana's Beartooth Mountain range, five agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) walked into the office of Dr. Richard Nelson, a Billings neurologist. For six hours, they combed through his records, seizing 72 patient charts and confiscating his drug-dispensing permit. The charge? None so far, but the assumption is that he is suspected of improperly prescribing narcotic drugs. Despite a distinguished professional record spanning more than four decades, Nelson has had to spend $20,000 on lawyers, fearing that the government will indict him if it turns out that...
...national debate plays out, Nelson, the Montana neurologist, remains under investigation. He describes himself as a cautious prescriber. A graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, he also trained with the American Academy of Pain Medicine. He required that his patients sign a four-page, 21-item contract before getting any opioid treatment, pledging, for example, that they had never received a diagnosis of substance abuse or been involved in drug dealing, that they would not seek to replace lost medication or obtain early refills and that they would buy their drugs from only one designated pharmacy...
Since the DEA raid, many of Nelson's patients have been unable to find doctors. Few physicians are trained in the complexities of pain control, and fewer still want to risk government second-guessing. Some of Nelson's patients have suffered acute narcotic-withdrawal symptoms, as he was unable to wean them gradually. Others, unable to cope with their pain, lost their jobs. They have staged demonstrations and press conferences in downtown Billings and mounted petition drives. As one of the few Montana doctors offering opioid therapy, Nelson was "like the Mother Teresa of medicine," says Jeannie Huntley, a marketing...
...knows yet if any of Nelson's patients may have overdosed or illegally sold their meds--and the DEA is keeping mum. But even if he is eventually absolved, the Montana native plans to close his practice. "We thought we were doing everything just about right," he says. "But now a whole bunch of people are sitting out there hurting like hell." --With reporting by Pat Dawson/Billings