PATIENT FILES SEIZED FROM CONTROVERSIAL HEROIN CLINIC

CONFIDENTIAL patient files were seized from a Brisbane doctor
yesterday as part of a Medical Board investigation into his use of
naltrexone implants to treat heroin addicts.

Distraught addicts and their parents rallied outside Dr Stuart Reece's
Highgate Hill practice as the Medical Board staff removed 16 boxes of
patient files. Files of patients with surnames A to E were removed, to
be returned today when Medical Board staff plan to remove another batch.

Medical Board president Lloyd Toft said the investigation would look
at the number of addicts who had died while undergoing Dr Reece's
detoxification treatment, and the steps Dr Reece took to obtain and
prescribe naltrexone.

Dr Reece is able to continue treating patients while under
investigation, but has been banned from using the naltrexone implants,
which have not been approved for human use.

Health Minister Wendy Edmond, who initiated the investigation, would
not comment yesterday, but the Opposition described the raid as a
"heavy-handed, jack-boot" way of investigating Dr Reece.

Opposition Leader Mike Horan said Queensland Health had "lost control
of this situation" and he was concerned by the confiscation of
medical files unrelated to naltrexone treatment.

Several patients yesterday vowed to complain to the Privacy
Commissioner about the removal of files, but Dr Toft said
confidentiality would be "scrupulously protected".

Dr Toft said Dr Reece could request any files needed to immediately
treat a patient, and would be notified if any file was to be copied.

Premier Peter Beattie defended the Medical Board and supported its
decision to act, saying "there has been a great deal of disquiet
about the use of naltrexone".

"The Medical Board's role is to protect lives," Mr Beattie
said.

Concern over the practice has escalated since it was revealed there
had been at least 24 deaths among 850 patients Dr Reece had treated
with naltrexone since July 1998.

Naltrexone is a prescription drug which blocks the effect of heroin on
the body and is approved for use in Australia in tablet form, which Dr
Reece may still prescribe.

However, doctors feared unreliable doses of naltrexone released from
the implants might leave patients more susceptible to an overdose than
addicts not receiving any treatment.

Dr Reece would not comment yesterday, but parents of his patients
accused the Government of conducting a vendetta.

Chris Caine, whose 31-year-old son takes naltrexone tablets, said Dr
Reece was saving lives, not killing people.

"Why don't they look at the ones who haven't died because they're
being treated by Dr Reece?" Mr Caine said.

Other parents spoke of travelling to Perth where the man who developed
the naltrexone implants, Dr George O'Neil, was still willing to fit
them despite losing the support of WA researchers.

About 160 patients have been treated in a series of government-funded
trials of naltrexone at the Royal Brisbane and Greenslopes Private
Hospitals.

The results of the trials, and those of other trials interstate, will be
released next month.