STATE BOARD SUSPENDS DOCTOR'S LICENSE

His Prescriptions For Pain Medicine Set Off Inquiry

A state board has suspended a Louisville doctor's medical license
over allegations that he prescribed pain medication to patients
without properly examining them.

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure issued the emergency
suspension Oct. 16 against Dr. David H. Thurman and also filed a
disciplinary complaint. A hearing on that complaint is scheduled for
May 26-27.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Thurman's attorney, J.Fox
DeMoisey, said his client will fight the medical board's efforts.
Although different doctors can have different opinions on how to treat
patients, DeMoisey said he isn't aware of anything that justifies the
suspension.

A 16-page suspension order spells out the state board's investigation
of Thurman, whose office was in a suite at 801 Barret Ave.

That order also said that Louisville Metro Police and the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration have been investigating Thurman.

Alex Dathorne, an assistant Jefferson commonwealth's attorney,
confirmed yesterday that an investigation of Thurman is ongoing. He
said he could not comment further.

The suspension order said the board received a complaint in August
2002, alleging that Thurman had inappropriately prescribed methadone
to a woman's son, who later died of an overdose. The identities of the
accuser and the deceased were not disclosed.

Information in the suspension order said a review of records by a
state Cabinet for Health Services drug control and professional
services employee and a consultant for the medical board found that
some of Thurman's patients had long-term use of one or more controlled
substances "sometimes in unusual combinations."

The review also allegedly found patients using multiple pharmacies,
driving hours to see Thurman and getting prescriptions with little or
no examination.

The suspension order also said that a DEA investigator told the
medical board that, in a joint investigation with Metro Narcotics, an
undercover officer saw Thurman in September 2002, got a "cursory
examination for (a) stiff back" and received a methadone prescription
for 60 tablets of 10 milligrams each.

A month later, the undercover officer allegedly told Thurman he had no
pain and Thurman allegedly "gave him another prescription" for 120
methadone tablets at 10 milligrams each.

Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, a pain medication often
prescribed for cancer patients, notified the medical board in August
2002 about concerns over Thurman's level of prescriptions of its product.

An unidentified Albany, Ky., patient who drove three hours to see
Thurman said that "a lot of people in her area drive to Louisville to
see the licensee because of his reputation for giving people what they
want," the suspension order said.

Thurman's Web site said he graduated from the University of
Louisville's School of Medicine in 1966, is board certified in
physical medicine and rehabilitation, and has been in private practice
since 1975.