PATIENT WINS SUIT IN DRUGS-FOR-FOOD SCHEME

* A jury awards $900,000 to Larry Benson, who claimed Dr. David Rosencrantz
led him to become addicted to narcotics to keep free food and cars coming

A prominent Portland urologist must pay a former patient $900,000 for
harming him with pain-killing narcotics in exchange for free food and auto
services, a Multnomah County Circuit Court jury decided Thursday.

Dr. David R. Rosencrantz,once a physician for the late Gov. Tom McCall,
treated Larry D. Bensonfor 19 years, ending in 1995. Benson credits
Rosencrantz for saving his life from testicular cancer. But he says the
doctor went on to destroy him when he agreed to treat Benson's crippling
migraine headaches, beginning in 1979. By 1987, Benson was addicted to
narcotics.

Benson, 42, who twice left the courtroom sobbing during closing arguments
Wednesday, was elated Thursday by the jury's decision. "It shows that the
truth came out," he said.

Benson's migraine headaches have ended, he said; he is working in a car
dealership again and no longer uses narcotics. At the prompting of his
attorney, Greg Kafoury, Benson acknowledged he will seek treatment for
ongoing psychological issues related to years of addiction.

Benson's suit says Rosencrantz prescribed narcotics even when he knew they
had become a cause of the headaches. Benson's suit claims Rosencrantz
intentionally caused Benson to become addicted so he could continue to
demand goods and services for little or no cost.

The jury awarded Benson $600,000 in noneconomic damages for malpractice
since May 1992 and punitive damages of $300,000 for intentional infliction
of emotional distress since May 1995.

In the world of medical malpractice, Benson's award is considerable.
"There's just a handful of lawyers who have gotten those kinds of awards,"
said Linda Love, president of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association.

Benson's suit had asked for $6 million. Kafoury thinks Benson should have
been able to recover punitive damages to 1979.

Rosencrantz, 57, was not present for the verdict. His attorney, Mark H.
Wagner, declined to comment.

Benson's and Rosencrantz's drugs-for-goods scheme, detailed through
testimony and attorneys' statements during the seven-day trial, continued
throughout the 1980s.

Although Benson had health insurance, Rosencrantz did not keep records of
most of the narcotics he gave Benson. As compensation, Benson initially
provided cases of Pepsi and other groceries from his job as a food store
manager. Later, he gave Rosencrantz free gasoline, auto maintenance and the
use of cars for himself and his family.

Rosencrantz often delivered the drugs in wrapped packages, sometimes
handing them to Benson's employees, who served as gofers.

Benson said he was terrified of Rosencrantz's alleged threats that if
Benson left Rosencrantz, no one else would give him drugs, primarily the
opiate Vicodinand shots of liquid Demerol.

Benson's case first played out before the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners
in 1996. In July of that year, the board suspended Rosencrantz's medical
practice for nine months for inappropriate prescribing and unprofessional
conduct.

The board placed Rosencrantz on probation, fined him $5,000, and demanded
that he stop keeping samples of controlled substances in his office and
that he see a psychiatrist. On his own, Rosencrantz sought education to
avoid repeating his mistakes.

At the time, Benson said the medical board's decision was "more than fair.
I mean, I didn't want to devastate the guy for life."

Benson, embroiled in divorce proceedings with his then-wife, Anne P.
Benson, dropped his civil suit against Rosencrantz. Portland trial lawyer
Greg Kafoury revived the case when another attorney suggested he take it.

"It's one of the greatest cases I've ever seen," Kafoury said.

In closing arguments during which he evoked the name of John F. Kennedy,
Kafoury portrayed his client's vulnerability and the doctor's prominence
and position of trust. "What he feared most -- depression, loss of control
over his own life -- that was the fate that became him and it came from
where he least expected it. . . . It came wrapped in salvation," Kafoury
told the jury of seven women and five men.

Kafoury reviewed the testimony of other doctors who treated Benson,
realized his addiction and tried repeatedly to get him off the narcotics,
only to be thwarted by more Vicodin from Rosencrantz.

Kafoury reminded the jury of the 167 times Benson went to the emergency
room during a 14-month period between 1993 and 1995, sick from his
addiction. Benson sometimes lay on the floor of the emergency room in his
own vomit, listening to the hospital staff talk about him, Kafoury said.

Wagner, attorney for Rosencrantz, acknowledged to the jurors that changing
their perspective on his client would be "the toughest job I'll have in
Portland." But he reminded the jury of the limits on Benson's claims. And
he urged the jury to put aside the emotional drama of Kafoury's
presentation.

Wagner said his client had been punished sufficiently by the Board of
Medical Examiners. He said that the one witness the jury never heard from
was "the real Larry Benson." He said Benson persuaded Rosencrantz to give
him a $20,000 loan in 1995 and Benson gave conflicting answers about when
he paid Rosencrantz back.

Wagner referred to several tape recordings that Benson made without
Rosencrantz's knowledge. On the tapes, Rosencrantz coaches Benson on how to
lie to insurers about where he got the narcotics and cautioned Benson to
keep their relationship quiet. But Wagner pointed out that Benson's tone on
the tape was not that of a man broken by addiction, struggling to flee a
bad doctor.

"The Larry Benson you heard on that tape was cool, calm and calculating,"
said Wagner, who repeated testimony that Benson spoke jubilantly to others
about the covert tape recordings.

Benson said the jury's award was validating. "Nobody ever believed the
story because it was just too incredible," he said.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)