Pain Management Practice May Close Without Doctor Indicted for Narcotics Distribution

Friday, June 17, 2016 | 0

The only way for a Williamsville pain management practice to stay open is if Eugene Gosy, a doctor indicted in April on 114 counts of illegally distributing drugs, returns, his defense attorney and a doctor currently overseeing his practice said.

If he doesn’t, and one of the largest pain management practices in the state shuts down, it could unleash a “veritable tsunami” of chronic pain patients upon the market, said Dr. Robert Milch, one of the doctors currently overseeing Gosy and Associates Pain and Neurology Treatment Center, in a statement corroborated by Gosy's defense attorney, Joel Daniels, to WorkCompCentral.

"His staff and his patients depend on him. He has unique skills, and without him, we don’t believe the practice will be able to stay open, so we’re asking the court to modify his conditions of bail, allowing him to examine, treat and recommend treatment plans for patients, the only exception being he cannot write controlled substances prescriptions," Daniels told WorkCompCentral.

From 2011 to 2014, Gosy allegedly issued 300,000 illegal prescriptions for drugs like morphine, oxycodone, ketamine and methadone to patients, including many injured workers, according to his indictment.

The New York State Workers' Compensation Board suspended Gosy's authorization to treat injured workers in May. But because of a "pressing medical need," the board allowed claimants who were treated at Gosy's pain-management practice to temporarily obtain care from their primary physician, even if the physician is not authorized to treat injured workers.

Gosy surrendered his license to write prescriptions and his ability to recommend treatment plans under the conditions of his bail agreement, Daniels said. He has motioned to modify the terms of that agreement.

"We want him to be able to collaborate and consult with nurse practitioners to recommend treatment plans," Daniels said.

The criminal case against Gosy accuses him of setting up a prescription-renewal process that churned out 300 illegal renewals every day, in addition to regularly prescribing controlled substances to addicts individually, the Buffalo News reported.

At one point, some 2,700 doctors were referring patients to him for pain management, and he was distributing more controlled substances than any other doctor in New York, the News reported.

With 50 employees, Gosy’s office serves more than 8,000 patients, the News reported. And it can’t run without Gosy, Milch said.

“I have contacted Dr. Gosy’s attorneys expressing my grave concerns that, unless Dr. Gosy is allowed to return to the practice as a collaborating/consulting physician, the practice will likely close within two weeks,” Milch said in an affidavit, according to the Buffalo News.

Federal prosecutors have not responded to Gosy’s motion, the News reported.