William R. Bauer, MD, 82, a neurologist in Port Clinton, OH with over 50 years of experience was indicted on 200 counts of distribution of controlled substances (fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and other drugs) and 14 counts of healthcare fraud.

As usual, the DOJ used “outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose” as their “crime”. But as repeated with every post, this is the illegal creation of a crime that the DOJ is now doing repeatedly against innocent physicians across the country. In order to create the “crime”, they claim that the doctor
1. Gave inadequate examinations and got inadequate medical histories;
2. Failed to establish an objective pain diagnosis;
3. Failed to consider non-opioid treatment options;
4. Prescribed high doses of opioids to patients without regard to any improvement in pain level, function or quality of life;
5. Failed to consider a patient’s state of addiction;
6. Ignored signs and warnings that patient family members were stealing substances prescribed to the patients;
7. Ignored warning letters about improper prescribing;
8. Patients running out of pills from overuse and frequently requesting early refills,
9. and other actions.

They try to make it sound so bad, but the 200 charges are for each individual prescription for controlled substances written to 7 patients between 2015 and 2018. Then they use Medicare fraud charges on top to try to force him to take a plea because fraud charges are hard to defend against due to the vague laws written just for that purpose.

The fraud charges are that the epidural injections and trigger point injections he administered were done “without medical necessity”. The indictment states that the injections “failed to meet procedural requirements”. According to the indictment, imaging must be used during the procedure so that the injection can be reimbursable by insurance, and that if the injections are ineffective, the billing is thereby “fraudulent”. I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen a requirement of imaging for payment for procedures. And that just increases the cost. Ridiculous!!

The CPT billing for trigger point injections is delineated HERE. There is no mention of the requirement for imaging.
According to the indictment, the imaging he used documented improper needle placement which caused the injections to be ineffective for their stated purpose and, therefore, fraudulently billed to insurers. This is ridiculous. A doctor with Dr. Bauer’s experience doesn’t need a fluoroscope to tell he has put the needle in the right place. The proper placement for an epidural is felt, not seen. Doctors, beware if insurance is going to take ineffectiveness of a procedure to declare fraud. Probably 50% of the procedures done in the country are ineffective.

But the main point of the indictment was the opioid prescriptions, as stated by U. S. Attorney Justin Herdman:

“This physician is accused of recklessly prescribing thousands of doses of fentanyl and other painkillers to people for no legitimate medical purpose.”

Even though the Controlled Substance Act implicitly states that only the DOCTOR can determine legitimate medical purpose:

(56) (C) the practitioner, acting in the usual course of professional practice, determines there is a legitimate medical purpose for the issuance of the new prescription.

But then the USA follows the tried and true DOJ labeling of doctors as “drug traffickers” in order to use the CSA against them. This is an example of government overreach, failure to follow Supreme Court decisions, creating crime where there is no crime, and simply making up laws to fit their purpose—attacking doctors for money.

They then black mark doctors with their comments that are then copied and printed by the media, contaminating the jury pool with propaganda and ignorance, claiming legitimate prescriptions are contributing to the fake government-created “addiction epidemic”. When are the American people going to get wise? The real crooks are the agents and agencies that reap the illegal rewards of attacking physicians for doing their job, such as those quoted in the indictment:
1. U. S. Attorney Justin Herdman
2. FBI Agent Eric B. Smith
3. DEA agent Keith Martin
4. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
5. DHHS-OIG
6. Assistant U. S. Attorneys Gene Crawford and Ava R. Dustin.

Even the Sandusky register, which has in the past, written articles about the good Dr. Bauer is doing for his patients (March, 2019) now spews the propaganda and minimalize what they’ve written in the past, instead of exposing the government lies. Dr. Bauer appeared several times on the Register’s public affairs show “Between the Lines” stating his advocacy for chronic pain patients caught in the opioid crack down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rpJ593sSQ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06zl-31_xUs
Some of his patients, claimed that he saved their lives. “He’s a good guy,” “Thank God for Dr. Bauer,” One of Dr. Bauer’s patients, a veteran, admitted to attempting suicide in the past numerous times. He described Dr. Bauer as a “lifesaver.”

Dr. Bauer is president of the Huron County Medical Society. Their website has information for chronic pain patients who have been refused treatment or had their prescriptions denied by a pharmacy. So he becomes a target of the US government? Stand up against a bullying government and they will attack you. Is that the message?

Meanwhile, the Kasich administration, which pushed hard to reduce the supply of pain pills, saw drug overdose deaths rise every year from 2011 to 2017, from 1,772 in 2011 to 4,854 in 2017. Ending legitimate treatment of pain such as this attack on Dr. Bauer, actually is what has created the fake drug epidemic by forcing legitimate pain patients to street drugs to treat their pain.