25-YEAR SENTENCE FOR PAIN DOCTOR

1 Death, 2 Injuries Linked To Overdoses

A federal judge in Alexandria sentenced William E. Hurwitz yesterday to 25
years in prison, accusing the prominent pain doctor of lying to the jury
during his narcotics trafficking trial and ignoring repeated warnings that
he was prescribing dangerous quantities of drugs.

In a courtroom crammed with supporters, U.S. District Judge Leonard D.
Wexler told Hurwitz that he knew some of his patients were selling or
abusing OxyContin and other drugs but that his prescription writing never
slowed. He said Hurwitz lied when he denied seeing track marks on the arm
of a patient who was a notorious drug abuser.

"Dr. Hurwitz, I don't feel sorry for you," Wexler told the former McLean
pain doctor as Hurwitz stared back and bowed his head slightly. "By your
behavior, you put people in jail. By your behavior, you ruined people's
lives. By your behavior, you seriously injured people. By your behavior,
you killed people."

The sentencing of Hurwitz, 59, reflected the charged emotions in a case
that became a symbol of the national debate over whether doctors should be
able to prescribe medication in massive doses to patients in chronic pain
who might be abusing or selling it. Hurwitz was convicted in December of
running a drug conspiracy out of his office and trafficking in narcotics,
causing the death of one patient and seriously injuring two others. He
faced a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, and prosecutors wanted to
send him to prison for life.

As Hurwitz entered the courtroom, many supporters cheered. The judge
allowed others to stand in the back, a rare practice at the
security-conscious courthouse. In all, more than 125 people packed the room.

But when Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi held up a binder with
transcripts of Hurwitz's trial testimony and said that "every page contains
numerous lies," Hurwitz supporters gasped. Wexler then threatened to throw
them out of the courtroom.

Patients and family members on both sides of the debate over the care
provided by Hurwitz testified and sobbed as they described him as either a
common criminal who violated the trust of his patients or a devoted doctor
who gave hope to people in pain.

"I was eight months pregnant the day Dr. Hurwitz killed my mom," said
Jennifer Click. Her mother, Linda Lalmond, died of a drug overdose in
Fairfax County in 2000 shortly after meeting Hurwitz and being prescribed
massive doses of morphine. Jurors convicted Hurwitz of causing her death.

"I never got to tell my mother one last time that I loved her, and this man
gets to see his family once a week," Click said, pointing at Hurwitz, who
looked down, grim-faced.

But Eyssel Franklin drove from North Carolina to tell the judge that
Hurwitz "literally saved my life" when she went to see him in 1994 for a
ruptured disk in her back. She said that the pain was so bad it felt like
her hand was "over an open flame" but that the massive doses of morphine
Hurwitz gave her enabled her to recover.

Prosecutors accused Hurwitz of prescribing excessive amounts of dangerous
drugs -- in one instance, 1,600 pills a day -- to addicts and others, even
though he knew some patients were abusing the drugs or selling them on the
lucrative black market. The case is part of an ongoing investigation,
within a broader federal crackdown, into doctors, pharmacists and patients
suspected of selling potent narcotics and fueling an epidemic that ravaged
Appalachia.

Jurors convicted Hurwitz on 50 counts of the 62-count indictment, including
conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. They acquitted him on nine
counts and deadlocked on three.

Patient advocates have portrayed Hurwitz as a heroic figure and expressed
concerns that his conviction would have a chilling effect on the
willingness of doctors to write prescriptions for chronic pain.

But Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen P. Tandy said yesterday
that although federal agents will continue to target any abuse of
prescription drugs, the vast majority of pain doctors "have nothing to fear."

"Dr. Hurwitz was no different than a cocaine or heroin dealer peddling
poison on a street corner," she said at a news conference called by U.S.
Attorney Paul J. McNulty to announce the sentencing. Hurwitz was also fined
$1 million.

Defense attorneys yesterday argued that Hurwitz never intended to cause
harm and was misled by a small number of patients. "All of the good he did
for all those patients has to count for something," said defense attorney
Marvin D. Miller, who said he will appeal the conviction and sentence.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark D. Lytle said Hurwitz was "not someone who
was fooled or duped, but simply someone who was cunning and calculating. He
had all the education in the world . . . and he continued to knowingly give
drugs to drug dealers."