DOCTOR'S AIDE FACES DRUG CHARGES RELATED TO DEATH

ST. PETERSBURG - A physician's assistant was arrested on charges of
practicing medicine without a license and trafficking in painkillers
after a 33-year-old patient died of a drug overdose, authorities said.

Sally J. Medina, 45, of Tampa, was arrested Tuesday on five counts of
practicing medicine without a license, three counts of trafficking in
hydrocodone and two counts of trafficking in oxycodone. She is being
held on bonds totaling $550,000.

Medina was arrested in court Tuesday where she was appearing on
earlier charges of practicing medicine without a license. She was
among six St. Petersburg Doctors Urgent Care Clinic employees arrested
in June in an undercover sting operation, Pinellas Sheriff's Sgt. Jim
Bordner said.

Medina's attorney did not immediately return messages left during
business hours.

The new charges carry stiffer penalties because of the overdose,
Bornder said.

Medina gave Jason Fulford, 33, a prescription - pre-signed by a clinic
doctor - for about 300 Xanax and oxycodone pills in January 2006.
Fulford, of St. Petersburg, died of an oxycodone overdose the next
day, Bordner said

"They gave him enough pills to kill a healthy person," said Fred C.
Fulford, 35, Jason Fulford's brother. "My brother didn't have to show
proof of anything. He had no X-rays, no note from a doctor. He had
nothing."

An autopsy determined Fulford's death was accidental. Medina broke the
law by providing the drugs. It was Fulford's decision to take the
pills, Bordner said.

Detectives have been working for eight months on "Operation Pain
Relief," a crackdown on the sale of prescription painkillers in the
Tampa Bay area.

In May, authorities arrested six employees at the clinic after
detectives posed as patients and received prescription painkillers.
The clinic is now closed. Authorities said the investigation is continuing.

"This isn't the last time you'll hear about Operation Pain Relief,"
Bordner said.