A federal magistrate judge has determined an embattled pain management specialist can resume seeing patients at his Williamsville office and recommending prescriptions.
Joel Daniels, the defense attorney for Dr. Eugene Gosy, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Buffalo that would allow Gosy to resume treatment of his chronic pain patients. The prosecution argued against the change in the condition's of Gosy's bail agreement, saying he can still practice medicine without being involved in narcotics.
But the judge sided with the defense, saying that not allowing Gosy to recommend treatment for the 10,000 pain patients his office sees creates a danger to the community. The ruling came after a lengthy hearing in U.S. District Court that saw Hon. H. Kenneth Schroeder reprimand attorneys for not anticipating the fallout from the doctor's indictment.
Gosy's office closed for over two weeks after the doctor was indicted on federal conspiracy, fraud and unlawful distribution of narcotics charges at the end of April. That closure caused a public health crisis as many chronic pain management patients ran out of medicine, went through severe withdrawals and discovered that primary care physicians, and other medical providers, would not take over pain management treatment.
Dr. Gosy has 10,000 active pain patients. His office is currently being operated by three volunteer doctors on a temporary basis until the end of July. One of the doctors currently helping operate the facility is Dr. Robert Milch, who supports the judge's ruling. He provided a statement for the defense saying Gosy is needed to help treat patients who have complex medical problems.
He warned preventing Gosy from seeing patients would result in a "veritable tsunami of many thousands of these patients who will flood a community inadequately resourced and prepared to manage the collateral human damage caused by that action, worsening its already critical drug management problem."
Under the bail modification, Dr. Gosy can resume seeing patients and making treatment recommendations that include pain medication prescriptions. Those recommendations have to be reviewed by a supervising physician.
The bail modification also gives government prosecutors the ability to more closely monitor prescription coming from Gosy's office while the case proceeds.
