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Seven of South Florida doctor's patients died of overdoses, detectives say
Seven of South Florida doctor's patients died of overdoses, detectives say
palmbeachpost.com • September 26, 2008
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Buzz up! WEST PALM BEACH — Dr. Sergio Rodriguez, charged with writing countless prescriptions for potent painkillers to patients he barely examined, confessed to investigators that he had no training in pain management, did not know how to prescribe painkillers and was not aware of any patients who had overdosed, according to court records released this week.
However, detectives believe seven of Rodriguez's patients have died of drug overdoses - some with the same drugs that Rodriguez prescribed only days before their deaths, according to the records.
Rodriguez, 52, father of a 3-year-old and 12-year-old, was arrested on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and delivery of methadone, Soma and Xanax. He remains in jail in lieu of $2.7million bail. Although he has not been charged in connection with any patient deaths, Lake Worth police are investigating one case. Detectives did not return a phone call Friday.
His arrest also has affected the children he treated legitimately at his pediatric practice in an aging strip mall on Dixie Highway at the south end of West Palm Beach. William Daniel Simon Lopez, 5, was denied entry to Liberty Park Elementary School because his vaccination records were locked in Rodriguez's office after his arrest on July 30. The boy's parents had him vaccinated again and he began school this week.
"My heart breaks every day knowing that I will never see my son again," said Rachel Arrants, mother of Tommy Nunn, a patient of Rodriguez who died of an overdose. Arrants is an advocate of a statewide database to monitor prescriptions. "The rate of overdoses is increasing at an insane manner," she said.
According to records from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office, 241 people died of drug overdoses in the county last year. The sheriff's office, which keeps its own statistics, has warned that the number could exceed 400 this year.
Nunn, 25, overdosed on Dec. 10, 2007, six days after Rodriguez wrote him prescriptions for the same drugs found in his system during an autopsy.
On April 29, 2008, Nunn's mother went to Rodriguez's office and asked for a copy of his medical records.
After waiting an hour, she was told the doctor had not finished filling out her son's records and that the office would call when they were ready. Arrants waited a week, then went back to Rodriguez's office. A woman told Arrants the doctor had said not to give Arrants her son's medical records.
During a search of Rodriguez's office, investigators found Nunn's file with a note that Nunn had died.
"It is bad enough worrying about illegal drug dealers," Arrants said. "Now it is legal drug dealers that seem to be killing our children."
The file of Robert Miller, another patient who died of an overdose was also on Rodriguez's desk. Miller's autopsy report was sticking out of the file, according to a report.
Investigators also are looking at the records of Robert Bowes Jr. of Port St. Lucie. Bowes, 27, overdosed three days after Rodriquez wrote him prescriptions for oxycodone, Xanax and methadone, the same drugs found in his system during an autopsy.
The eight-month undercover investigation of Rodriguez began in January after surrounding businesses complained that strung-out adults waited in lines or stumbled around outside of the pediatrician's office.
An undercover agent posed as a patient and told the doctor she had been in a car accident a year earlier and had lower back pain. She said Rodriguez did not examine her but gave her four prescriptions for pain and anxiety. She returned four times and was given refills without an exam.
Rodriguez, who was trained as a pediatrician in the Dominican Republic, told investigators that he knew that "all" of his pain-management patients abused the drugs and that he, too, might be addicted. He did not know what or how much to prescribe so he relied on his patients' memories of their prior prescriptions. He never checked to see whether their recollections were accurate, according to the investigator's records.
Rodriguez told investigators he knew it was wrong to write prescriptions to his girlfriend, Reyna Rosario, for his own use. He had been taking oxycodone and methadone for about six months and was afraid to stop.
Records showed that since January, Rodriguez wrote prescriptions to Rosario for more than 1,000 tablets of oxycodone and methadone. Rosario, 27, was arrested Sept. 12 and charged with racketeering and trafficking and possession of drugs. Rodriguez's attorney, Andrew Stine, did not return a phone call Friday.
Although Rodriguez told investigators he could not explain why he had written so many prescriptions, his bank accounts offer one possible motive. Bank records show that Rodriguez deposited $721,117 into three accounts this year.
Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A trial date has not been set.
palmbeachpost.com • September 26, 2008
Read Comments(2)Recommend Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Buzz up! WEST PALM BEACH — Dr. Sergio Rodriguez, charged with writing countless prescriptions for potent painkillers to patients he barely examined, confessed to investigators that he had no training in pain management, did not know how to prescribe painkillers and was not aware of any patients who had overdosed, according to court records released this week.
However, detectives believe seven of Rodriguez's patients have died of drug overdoses - some with the same drugs that Rodriguez prescribed only days before their deaths, according to the records.
Rodriguez, 52, father of a 3-year-old and 12-year-old, was arrested on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and delivery of methadone, Soma and Xanax. He remains in jail in lieu of $2.7million bail. Although he has not been charged in connection with any patient deaths, Lake Worth police are investigating one case. Detectives did not return a phone call Friday.
His arrest also has affected the children he treated legitimately at his pediatric practice in an aging strip mall on Dixie Highway at the south end of West Palm Beach. William Daniel Simon Lopez, 5, was denied entry to Liberty Park Elementary School because his vaccination records were locked in Rodriguez's office after his arrest on July 30. The boy's parents had him vaccinated again and he began school this week.
"My heart breaks every day knowing that I will never see my son again," said Rachel Arrants, mother of Tommy Nunn, a patient of Rodriguez who died of an overdose. Arrants is an advocate of a statewide database to monitor prescriptions. "The rate of overdoses is increasing at an insane manner," she said.
According to records from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office, 241 people died of drug overdoses in the county last year. The sheriff's office, which keeps its own statistics, has warned that the number could exceed 400 this year.
Nunn, 25, overdosed on Dec. 10, 2007, six days after Rodriguez wrote him prescriptions for the same drugs found in his system during an autopsy.
On April 29, 2008, Nunn's mother went to Rodriguez's office and asked for a copy of his medical records.
After waiting an hour, she was told the doctor had not finished filling out her son's records and that the office would call when they were ready. Arrants waited a week, then went back to Rodriguez's office. A woman told Arrants the doctor had said not to give Arrants her son's medical records.
During a search of Rodriguez's office, investigators found Nunn's file with a note that Nunn had died.
"It is bad enough worrying about illegal drug dealers," Arrants said. "Now it is legal drug dealers that seem to be killing our children."
The file of Robert Miller, another patient who died of an overdose was also on Rodriguez's desk. Miller's autopsy report was sticking out of the file, according to a report.
Investigators also are looking at the records of Robert Bowes Jr. of Port St. Lucie. Bowes, 27, overdosed three days after Rodriquez wrote him prescriptions for oxycodone, Xanax and methadone, the same drugs found in his system during an autopsy.
The eight-month undercover investigation of Rodriguez began in January after surrounding businesses complained that strung-out adults waited in lines or stumbled around outside of the pediatrician's office.
An undercover agent posed as a patient and told the doctor she had been in a car accident a year earlier and had lower back pain. She said Rodriguez did not examine her but gave her four prescriptions for pain and anxiety. She returned four times and was given refills without an exam.
Rodriguez, who was trained as a pediatrician in the Dominican Republic, told investigators that he knew that "all" of his pain-management patients abused the drugs and that he, too, might be addicted. He did not know what or how much to prescribe so he relied on his patients' memories of their prior prescriptions. He never checked to see whether their recollections were accurate, according to the investigator's records.
Rodriguez told investigators he knew it was wrong to write prescriptions to his girlfriend, Reyna Rosario, for his own use. He had been taking oxycodone and methadone for about six months and was afraid to stop.
Records showed that since January, Rodriguez wrote prescriptions to Rosario for more than 1,000 tablets of oxycodone and methadone. Rosario, 27, was arrested Sept. 12 and charged with racketeering and trafficking and possession of drugs. Rodriguez's attorney, Andrew Stine, did not return a phone call Friday.
Although Rodriguez told investigators he could not explain why he had written so many prescriptions, his bank accounts offer one possible motive. Bank records show that Rodriguez deposited $721,117 into three accounts this year.
Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A trial date has not been set.
I have been to too many young adults and childrens funerals in the last four years for a lifetime, I just can't take this any more...it's killing me inside along with the rest of us mothers :cry:
The sad part is that for everyone busted there are hundreds more.
The sad part is that for everyone busted there are hundreds more.
This happened in my city also a few months ago. The doctors office was on the news, and it showed people out the door all the way around the building. The media was there filming when they arrested him. It was unbelieveable. People had driven from two states away to see this doctor. They interviewed the detective and he said they have been watching him for six months. They would go in to see him, wait hours, the doctor would take ten people in a big room at one time and ask them what they wanted then would write it. The three main ones were hydrocodone, soma, and xanax (120)of each. They later found out that four of his patients had overdosed. Two of them were mothers of young children. They found $100,000.00 in cash in his office. I felt so sorry for the mothers of the young women who had died. They were interviewed on the news and said they will be at his trial every step of the way.
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