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Va. pain doctor convicted on some counts, acquitted on others...
A pain-management doctor who prescribed massive amounts of opiates and drew patients from across the country to his northern Virginia clinic was convicted on 16 counts of drug trafficking by a federal jury on Friday.
The jury acquitted William E. Hurwitz on 17 other counts, and a judge dismissed 17 others, including the most serious charge — drug trafficking resulting in death.
Hurwitz faces up to 20 years on each count when he is sentenced on July 13.
Numerous patients had prescriptions for hundreds of pills a day, and one had a prescription for 1,600 pills a day. Several of his former patients testified against him, and prosecutors played tapes of conversations in which Hurwitz seemed to know that his patients were selling their prescriptions.
Defense lawyers argued that Hurwitz was one of a handful of doctors in the country willing to risk persecution by authorities to prescribe the doses necessary to alleviate patients from crippling pain. Several of his former patients and their family members testified on his behalf.
Hurwitz, whose high-profile advocacy of high-dose opioid treatment once landed him on "60 Minutes," has been under scrutiny of authorities for decades and twice had his medical license suspended, in 1991 and 1996.
Between 1998 and 2002, Hurwitz drew more than 400 patients from 39 states to his clinic in McLean. Prosecutors said the waiting room was frequently occupied by stoned or sleeping patients with track marks on their arms.
The case against Hurwitz was part of a long-running federal, state and local investigation dubbed "Operation Cotton Candy" that netted more than 130 convictions in Virginia and elsewhere for drug trafficking and prescription fraud of OxyContin and other drugs.
Numerous physician and patient advocacy groups supported Hurwitz, and said his case should be dealt with by state medical boards rather than criminal courts. Hurwitz received extensive pro bono legal assistance at his second trial.
Calls to Hurwitz's lead attorney, Richard Sauber, placed late Friday were not immediately returned.
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