U. S. Department of Justice
Gregory R. Miller
United States Attorney
Northern District of Florida

PANAMA CITY PHYSICIAN SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT
ON DRUG AND FRAUD CHARGES ARISING OUT OF IMPROPER
DISPENSING OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES

TALLAHASSEE -- Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, Bill McCollum, Florida’s Attorney General and Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration Miami Field Division announced that a former Panama City “pain management” physician, John Q. Durfey, was sentenced to 240 months imprisonment on six counts of distribution of controlled substances and six counts of health care fraud.

United States District Judge M. Casey Rodgers sentenced Durfey, age 76, to 240 months imprisonment on each of six counts in which Durfey prescribed quantities of oxycodone, morphine, fentanyl (duragesic), methadone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone (dilaudid) to patients without determining a sufficient medical necessity for the prescription of controlled substances and in quantities and dosages that would cause patients to abuse and misuse the controlled substances. At the sentencing hearing, it was revealed that two of the drug counts involved patients who died of drug overdoses resulting from the defendant’s improper prescribing of controlled substances. Additionally, the defendant was sentenced to six concurrent 120-month terms of imprisonment on six counts of health care fraud which involved the defendant submitting false claims to health care benefit programs for payment for medical services, namely, office visits, that were never provided.

Judge Rodgers also ordered Durfey to pay a special assessment of $1,200 to the United States, and to pay restitution in the amount of $466,723.03 to Medicare, Tricare, BlueCross BlueShield of Florida, and the State of Florida’s Medicaid program.

In October of 2005, a federal search warrant was executed at the medical office of Durfey located at 1937 Harrison Avenue, Panama City, Florida, and evidence was seized by federal and state agents. In December 2006, following an extensive criminal investigation, Durfey and his office manager, Rhonda Fenwick, were indicted on conspiracy, unlawful dispensing of controlled substances, mail fraud, and health care fraud charges. On May 30, 2007, Durfey appeared before Judge Rodgers and pled guilty to six counts of health care fraud and six counts of dispensing controlled substances outside the normal course of professional practice.

At the time of his guilty plea, Durfey, a licensed physician practicing in Panama City, admitted that he:

-prescribed controlled substances to patients despite the patients having toxicological tests positive for cocaine, marijuana, or amphetamines, or negative for the prescribed controlled substances.

-prescribed controlled substances to patients knowing that the patients were addicted to the controlled substances, were misusing the controlled substances, and were requesting additional quantities of controlled substances to support the patients’ drug habits.

-continued to prescribe addictive controlled substances notwithstanding prior overdoses by the patients on the prescribed drugs and the receipt of information.

-prepared prescriptions for controlled substances for patients to obtain when the defendant would be out of his medical office.

-submitted or caused the submission of fraudulent claims to health care benefit programs for office visits for patients whom the defendant had not seen because he was out of town, and for office visits for patients who had failed to appear for appointments with the defendant.

Co-defendant Rhonda Fenwick pled guilty to three counts of health care fraud on July 25, 2007. She is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Rodgers on October 11, 2007.

This successful prosecution is the result of a joint Federal/State North Florida Health Care Fraud Task Force investigation that involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the National Drug Intelligence Center, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Unit, the Florida Department of Financial Services - Fraud Division, and the Florida Department of Health.

“Doctors are supposed to be healers, not enablers for drug addicts,” said Attorney General McCollum. “This ‘doctor’ was no better than a drug dealer hiding behind his practitioner’s license.”

“A doctor who illegally prescribes narcotics from the confines of his office is no different than a petty drug dealer selling from any street corner in America," said Special Agent-in-Charge Trouville. "DEA will continue to aggressively pursue those who deal in death and destruction in our communities."

United States Attorney Miller commended the tireless efforts of investigators of the agencies involved in this complex investigation, and praised the cooperation of citizens and pharmacists who alerted investigators to excessive prescribing of highly addictive controlled substances by Durfey. United States Attorney Miller stated that, “the protection of citizens in the community from licensed doctors who dispense highly addictive controlled substances such as OxyContin outside the usual course of professional practice is a primary concern of health care fraud investigations. The North Florida Health Care Task Ford will vigorously investigate and identify those medical practitioners who use their licenses to peddle controlled substances to abusers and addicts outside the course of standard medical practice. This conduct, along with the theft of public funds and fraud committed against the taxpayers and health care benefit programs, remains a priority with the Department of Justice.”

For further information, please contact Alan Sprowls at (850) 942-8430