DOCTOR'S PRACTICE RESTRICTED

State Limits Forrester's Authority To Write Prescriptions

The state Board of Medical Examiners has stripped a Bayou La
Batre doctor of his ability to write prescriptions for most drugs -- a
decision Bayou investigators said Friday would reduce the amount of
prescription drugs improperly circulating in the city.

"We feel that taking this guy out of action will greatly alleviate the
growing problem with prescription drugs we've had here," said Lt.
Darryl Wilson, the Bayou detective who headed up the police
investigation last year that ultimately led to the medical board's
decision. "This will make people go elsewhere for their drugs."

The physician, Dr. Carlos Forrester, who runs Bayou La Batre
Urgicare, entered into a consent agreement with the medical board last
month, agreeing to drastic restrictions on his medical license rather
than face board proceedings that might have cost him his license,
board officials said Friday. Forrester has not been charged with any
crime, police said. As of Friday afternoon, Dr. Forrester remained a
free man and practicing physician. Calls by the Mobile Register to
Forrester's office were not returned Friday. Bayou La Batre police
began investigating Forrester in April 2003, Wilson said. An
eight-month investigation using informants and surveillance showed
that "people could walk in and out of his office with a prescription
for OxyContin, hydrocodone or Xanax in eight to 15 minutes," Wilson
said. OxyContin is a trade name for the drug oxycodone hydrochloride,
which is prescribed to treat chronic pain. Hydrocodone is a narcotic
pain reliever and a cough suppressant. Xanax is a benzodiazepine used
to treat anxiety and panic disorder. All these drugs can be addictive.

Many patients received the same medication monthly for the entire
investigation, though the drugs were addictive, and though Alabama's
prescription laws require that every patient who has not responded to
treatment must be reviewed on a frequent basis, Wilson said. State and
federal laws made a criminal case against Forrester infeasible, Joyner
said. Buying and selling such drugs on the street without a
prescription is illegal, "but it's perfectly legal for a doctor to
write as many prescriptions as he wants to, as long as he has license.
So this was an ethical issue," Joyner said.

Joyner called on the state medical board, which took the case in
December, said Ed Munson, senior investigator with the Alabama Board
of Medical Examiners. After an investigation, the board offered
Forrester the consent order on May 10.

According to the consent order, Forrester can now only prescribe
Schedule V drugs, those that are the least dangerous, such as cough
syrup. In a year, he may appeal the board to regain the power to
prescribe Schedule IV drugs, which include sleeping pills. In another
year, he may appeal to again prescribe Schedule III drugs, which
include drugs commonly used on the street now such as
hydrocodone.

"This is wonderful news," Mayor Stan Wright said of the board's
action. Wright said he had received numerous complaints about
Forrester. In 2003, the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners
investigated 76 physicians for various violations of board licensing
requirements, according to statistics compiled by the Federation of
State Medical Boards of the United States. Of those, 66 were
disciplined. Thirty-three lost their licenses. Twelve saw their
licenses reduced and some of their privileges -- such as the ability
to prescribe certain drugs -- removed.

The abuse of prescription drugs has increased dramatically in recent
years, Munson said. The federal government estimates 46 million
Americans older than 12, or nearly one in five, have abused
prescription drugs at least once. Hydrocodone, the active ingredient
in Vicodin, Lortab and Lorcet, seems to have seen the biggest jump in
usage, he said. "I've been investigating physicians for more than 25
years," Munson said. "Today, more than 40 percent of the
investigations we do involve prescription drugs. In the'70s, it was
zero."