MURPHY'S DOCTOR TRIED TO CURTAIL NARCOTICS

A physician treating then-Snohomish Police Chief Patrick Murphy had "long"
talks with him in 1993 and 1994 about being Murphy's sole provider of
controlled substances for pain.

But Dr. Loren Ihle testified Monday he had not been aware of all the
narcotic pain relievers Murphy was getting at the time from a variety of
other health-care providers.

"We clearly needed to curtail his narcotic pain medication," Ihle read from
patient notes he made in 1994.

It was prescription painkillers from multiple doctors and dentists and his
going to multiple pharmacies that was Murphy's undoing after he was
appointed Snohomish County sheriff in early 1995.

He became the target of a state Board of Pharmacy investigation that led to
the discovery and disclosure of more than 260 prescriptions at local
pharmacies over a 17-month period in 1994 and 1995.

Board members testified that volume indicated there was "drug seeking"
behavior on Murphy's part.

It was the disclosure of the information that led to a civil lawsuit that's
now playing out in Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald
Castleberry's courtroom.

Murphy sued the board for up to $10 million for allegedly negligently
conspiring to disclose confidential health information to County Executive
Bob Drewel and others in a June 12, 1995, meeting in the county
administration building.

Murphy, who had been appointed sheriff just months before, became the
target of a special prosecutor's probe that resulted in criminal charges of
fraudulently obtaining prescription medication. The charges later were
dropped after a Jefferson County judge ruled the Pharmacy Board had
obtained much of its information without first getting a search warrant.

But the charges came in late October 1995, just days before the general
election. Murphy was beaten by current Sheriff Rick Bart.

The civil trial is in its fourth week, and the judge has indicated he wants
testimony completed this week.

Under questions posed by Assistant Attorney General Paul Triesch, Ihle
testified he had been Murphy's primary health provider for about five years
ending in the summer of 1995. One of those injuries, a chronic jaw problem,
still plagues Murphy today, he testified earlier.

Slowly, Triesch took the doctor through notes from various visits over that
period, including those concerning a discussion he had with the former
sheriff in April 1993. That's when Murphy became upset that a local
pharmacist called his employer at the city of Snohomish complaining about
the number and kinds of prescriptions issued to Murphy.

The employer wanted assurance that Murphy had been receiving appropriate
treatment, Ihle told the jury. In response, Ihle worked out a plan where he
was supposed to be the sole provider of narcotic painkillers for Murphy,
and he asked that Murphy go only to one pharmacy "to avoid further
misunderstanding."

In April the following year, Ihle had the second conversation with Murphy.
The doctor testified he was concerned Murphy had been taking a dangerous
volume of painkillers that could affect his liver, some from other doctors.

When he told Murphy he wanted to be the sole provider of narcotic pain
medication, "I did expect that at the time," Ihle testified.

Ihle later told Murphy's attorney, Mark Northcraft, that there was no
understanding how long the prescription agreement he struck with the former
sheriff should last.

Did Murphy have a drug-addiction problem, Northcraft asked?

"No," Ihle said.

In his opinion, did Murphy ever seek painkillers when he didn't have pain?
Ihle said, "No."

Was he worried about Murphy seeking drugs unlawfully? Again, Ihle said, "No."

He also testified he wrote a letter to an assistant attorney general and
the special prosecutor saying the large volume of medication and multiple
doctors were the result of complex treatment for a variety of serious
problems, "not his criminal behavior."