Patients Sue Doctor Over Painkillers

An Oxnard physician facing federal charges for allegedly overprescribing painkillers has been sued for medical malpractice and negligence by four patients and the widow of a fifth who died after taking medication intended to ease a back injury.

The lawsuits were filed shortly before a grand jury returned an indictment last month against Dr. Michael B. Huff, 55, a family practitioner accused of prescribing large amounts of narcotics to patients who either became hooked on them or sold the drugs on the street.

Huff and pharmacist Richard Ozar, 58, the owner of Victoria Village Pharmacy in Ventura, are scheduled to appear in federal court today for arraignment on conspiracy and drug trafficking charges that carry a possible 20-year prison sentence.

The indictment charges Huff and Ozar with distributing painkillers, including OxyContin, Roxicodone and Actiq, in violation of federal law, and alleges that Huff prescribed drugs whether or not they were medically necessary, to boost his patient base.

Huff has declined comment on the charges. Ozar’s lawyer said his client has done nothing illegal and suggested that the government is trying to make an example of the pharmacist amid a national debate on how to treat chronic pain.

The federal case will be closely watched by those who have sued Huff. They include a disabled waitress, a housewife and the widow of a retired firefighter whose lawsuits allege Huff was a reckless doctor who failed to warn patients that the drugs he was prescribing posed a high risk of addiction, injury or death.

“It is awful, just really awful what happened,� said Linda Bafford, 39, a waitress who lost her teeth after taking Actiq, a berry-flavored narcotic lollipop designed for cancer patients, which she said Huff prescribed to ease pain caused by a spinal injury.

Bafford grew up in Ventura County and now lives in the eastern Sierra town of Bishop. She said she began seeing Huff in 2001 after undergoing neck and back surgeries after a workplace accident. Her lawsuit alleges that Huff prescribed Actiq in an amount far exceeding the recommended dosage and failed to advise her of its side effects and addictive properties.

As a result, the suit states, Bafford developed an addiction to the painkiller and suffered tooth decay that led to the loss of all her teeth in November 2002. She is seeking unspecified damages from Huff and Ozar, who filled the prescriptions. They have not responded to the allegations.

Bafford’s lawsuit is the most recent of three civil actions filed against Huff in Ventura County Superior Court since August, a month after the doctor’s license was suspended by the state medical board for allegedly prescribing painkillers excessively.

The first suit was filed by patients Lori Sage, Sherry Heuel and Julie Robinson, who alleged malpractice and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

According to their lawsuit, Sage, 42, a Ventura resident, suffered seizures after Huff overprescribed the antianxiety drug Xanax. Heuel, 38, a Camarillo housewife, allegedly became addicted to painkillers prescribed by Huff for migraine headaches and ended up in drug rehabilitation. Robinson, 41, an Oxnard resident, fell into a five-day coma resulting in nerve damage after taking medication prescribed by Huff to ease chronic pain after several surgeries.

“I think Dr. Huff engaged in grossly negligent conduct, ignoring the health of his patients for personal profit,� said Ventura attorney Brian A. Osborne, who represents the women.

In court papers, Osborne likened Huff’s waiting room to “a line outside a crack house.�

Santa Barbara civil attorney Peter G. Bertling, who represents Huff, took issue with the characterization and said such statements illustrate a local bias against his client.

“Dr. Huff is not a crack dealer. Dr. Huff does not run a crack house,� Bertling wrote in court papers. “There is no reason for such invective.�

Bertling recently asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing in part that three women should not be allowed to bring one complaint. He also requested that the case be moved to Santa Barbara to ensure that Huff receives a fair trial.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Henry J. Walsh rejected those requests but limited the case solely to medical malpractice claims. Huff denied those allegations last month and asserted that any injuries were caused by plaintiffs’ negligence.

The third lawsuit pending against Huff was brought by Deborah Allen, the widow of a retired Los Angeles County firefighter who died of heart failure in October 2002. According to the civil complaint, Huff prescribed medication to Robert Allen, 41, a patient of two years, but failed to disclose that the drugs posed a high risk of addiction, heart attack or death.

County records list the cause of his death as cardiac arrhythmia due to heart disease. But an addiction to opiate medication was listed as a contributing factor.

Allen’s death is among several overdoses by Huff patients that remain under investigation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. It was detailed in a 95-page search warrant affidavit filed earlier this year after state prosecutors obtained a temporary suspension of Huff’s license.

According to the affidavit, Allen was taking painkillers for a back injury in the days before he died, including Duragesic, a skin patch for relieving moderate to severe pain. Allen said the patches were “killing him� and he was trying to get off the medication.

The affidavit states that an investigator found 23 bottles for 16 different drugs in Allen’s Oxnard home and that Huff prescribed most of them.

Bertling, Huff’s civil attorney, said his client has not been served with the Allen suit. He said he intends to have the allegations in all three civil actions reviewed by medical experts.

At a hearing earlier this year on his medical license, Huff said he rendered appropriate care to patients and suggested that he is being punished by those who look suspiciously on doctors who treat chronic pain aggressively.

Bafford, the waitress, said Huff started her on a combination of painkillers that included Vicodin, Lortab and Demoral and later switched her to Actiq. Her lawsuit states that she took the drug from January through December 2002, and that Huff referred her to Ozar to fill the prescriptions. She said in an interview that her medication cost about $9,000 a month and estimated that $120,000 in prescription drugs were billed to the state’s health program by the end of last year.

Now, she said, her mouth aches from tooth decay allegedly brought on by the painkiller, and she needs money to pay for special dentures.

“I really want them to have to pay for this,� she said, “for there to be justice.�