OxyContin Invasion

DOCTOR IS CHARGED IN OVERDOSE

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A doctor was charged with murder for allegedly
improperly prescribing the painkiller OxyContin to a man who died of a drug
overdose.

Denis Deonarine, 56, also was charged with racketeering and drug
trafficking in an 80-count indictment issued Friday. The indictment was
sealed because other defendants remained at large, prosecutor Barry
Krischer said.

Deonarine was jailed pending a bail hearing. He was charged in May with
related Medicaid-fraud charges. His office manager also has been charged
with fraud, trafficking and racketeering. The first-degree-murder charge
involved the Feb. 8 death of Michael Labzda, 21.

Richard Lubin, Deonarine's lawyer, said the murder charges were
inappropriate because alcohol and other drugs were found in Labzda's body.

A handful of other doctors around the nation have been charged with
manslaughter in similar cases. But Deonarine could face the death penalty
or life in prison without parole if convicted of first-degree murder.

OxyContin, intended to relieve chronic pain from such problems as arthritis
and cancer, has been linked to overdose deaths across the country.