Painful Realization

Frank Fisher, a California physician who was originally charged with murder and drug dealing based on his prescriptions of narcotic painkillers, was acquitted yesterday of the remaining charges against him, involving state health insurance fraud. Fisher, who spent five months in jail following his arrest in 1999, says he was targeted because, unlike most doctors, he was willing to prescribe the large, continuing doses of opioids necessary for treating severe chronic pain. The Pain Relief Network's Siobhan Reynolds calls Fisher's acquittal, which follows a judge's dismissal of the homicide and drug dealing charges, a potential "turn-around moment" when the public realizes "the dangers present when the law enforcement community seeks to impose its outdated views on cutting edge medical practice."