OVERDOSE VICTIM'S MOTHER BLAMES DOCTOR FOR DEATH

A Redding woman whose son died of a painkiller overdose waited outside
a full courtroom Wednesday while a Redding physician pleaded innocent
to charges of murdering three patients who died of suspected overdoses.

Stephanie Navo said the name of her son, Christopher D. Navo of
Redding, should be added to the list of people who allegedly died
because of prescriptions written by Dr. Frank Fisher at his Westside
Walk-In Clinic in Anderson.

Navo said her 20-year-old son died at their home in May of an
oxycodone overdose after getting the prescription narcotic illegally
on the street.

Fisher has not been charged in connection with Navo's death and
authorities have said they don't believe Navo was a patient of the
Harvard Medical School graduate.

93I can't be 100 percent sure of anything, but I believe that he is
responsible,94 said Navo, a Redding schoolteacher. 93I don't want to
accuse wrongly.94

In additions to pleading innocent to three counts of murder each,
Fisher, 45, Redding pharmacist Stephen Miller, 49, and his wife,
Madeline Miller, 44, also pleaded innocent in Shasta County Superior
Court to two dozen charges of drug dealing and Medi-Cal fraud.

The well-attended court appearance had a more restricted atmosphere
than past hearings. For the sake of impartiality, Judge James
Ruggiero banned from the courtroom 93Guilty of Caring94 T-shirts and
buttons worn by Fisher fans. Some supporters cloaked their pro-Fisher
shirts under coats before going through the metal detector.

Deputy marshals warned the crowd 96 some carrying newsletters by Fisher
supporters 96 that waves or gestures at the defendants are against the
law. Onlookers were turned away once the 70-seat courtroom filled to
capacity.

Fisher and the Millers 96 who have appeared in court twice since being
arrested and jailed Feb. 18 96 wore leg shackles for the first time at
Wednesday's hearing. Shackles are routinely used in certain cases,
county Marshal Dennis Boatner said.

In his first court appearance on behalf of Fisher, veteran San
Francisco attorney Patrick Hallinan told the judge that the leg chains
were demeaning for his peace-loving client. Ruggiero said he will
address the issue of shackles at the trio's next court appearance March
19.

Ruggiero ruled that a sealed portion of court documents be unsealed
solely for court appointed attorney Rhonda Hixon, who represents
Stephen Miller, owner of Shasta Pharmacy on Westside Road in Redding.
Redding attorney Eric Berg is representing Madeline Miller, who worked
at the pharmacy.

Hixon said she needed to look at the names of more than 3,200 Medi-Cal
patients of Fisher and clients of the Millers to determine if she had
a conflict of interest in representing Stephen Miller.

After the hearing, Hallinan chided state authorities before a cluster
of cameras from various Northern California television stations.
State Deputy Attorney General Gary Binkerd, who is prosecuting the
case, walked away from the media horde and declined to comment.

Hallinan said the attorney general's office would never have the
audacity to make such charges in San Francisco. They did so in
Redding, he said, because they wrongly expected to 93deal with a lot of
rednecks and hicks and get away with it.94

When the attorney general's office offered Fisher a plea bargain last
year in a different case involving Medi-Cal fraud charges, the
physician turned it down, Hallinan said. That angered state
authorities and prompted them to file more charges, he said.

Prosecutor Blinkerd has said his office offered the settlement when
Fisher only faced charges of $2,500 in fraud.94

93That offer was taken off the table when we learned that his practice
was at fault for other and much more serious complaints,94 Binkerd said
Monday.

Hallinan said the fact that state authorities are investigating
suspected overdose deaths this year and in the past two years to
determine if they are linked to Fisher and the Millers shows the
weaknessw of the initial charges.

93It's an eloquent commentary on how good their primary case it. Not
so good,94 said Hallinan, the older brother of San Francisco District
Attorney Terence Hallinan.

He said the allegations of $2 million in Medi-Cal fraud were 93garbage94
and called the murder charges 93ludicrous.94

Fisher's father, retired Berkeley elementary school teacher Frank
Fisher Sr., listened quietly to Navo as she said that the physician
may have been compassionate, but should not have prescribed such
excessive amountys of potent painkillers.

Navo said her son was not a longtime user of oxycodone or a pain
patient when he died of a painkiller overdose, which was ruled an accident.

Prescribing strictly regulated drugs to pain patients whom others had
refused to treat is risky, but essential because untreated pain is a
major cause of suicides, Hallinan said.

93It takes a lot of guts for a doctor to do that,94 he
said.