DOCTOR TURNS IN LICENSE

An Erie physician accused in a patient's overdose won't be writing any more
prescriptions for narcotics or other controlled substances.

David. A. Klees, D.O. agreed Thursday to surrender his Drug Enforcement
Agency license to write prescriptions for controlled substances and refrain
from prescribing controlled substances pending the resolution of his
criminal case, Senior Deputy Attorney General Douglas Wright said.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to have Klees' bond reduced from $50,000
cash to 10 percent of $25,000. Klees, 46, was released from the Erie County
Prison after he posted the money Thursday morning.

The agreement was reached as Klees appeared before District Justice John
Vendetti in Erie County Central Court to waive his preliminary hearing on a
count of involuntary manslaughter and 11 other charges.

Erie police and state drug agents on Jan. 8 arrested Klees, 46, charging
that his recklessness or negligence in writing an ?illegal prescription
helped cause the death of 40-year-old Erie resident Sherry Lee Ziroli. She
died May 17 of an accidental overdose of painkillers other than OxyContin.

Police also allege Klees wrote illegal prescriptions, including those for
the highly addictive OxyContin, to 11 other patients. They said he wrote
the prescriptions without first ordering tests or suggesting alternatives
to painkillers, and that he continued to prescribe painkillers even when he
knew the patients were already addicted to the drugs, according to arrest
records.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind in Erie County involving a
physician, though the state Attorney General's Office is pursuing similar
cases throughout Pennsylvania.

Investigators said they found no evidence that Klees received large-scale
financial benefits from what the police believe are the illegal prescriptions.

Investigators also have no evidence that Klees was using the drugs himself,
Wright has said. Klees is a family practitioner who had been affiliated
with the now-bankrupt MetroHealth Medical/Osteopathic Hospital. He still
has a license to practice medicine.

A tip from a pharmacist at an Erie Rite Aid store helped launch the
investigation.

"This was an extremely serious violation. It would compound this violation
beyond belief if he would attempt to prescribe controlled substances with
that license suspended," Wright said. He is prosecuting the case along with
the Erie County District Attorney's Office.

Following Klees' arrest, some of his patients complained they had been
unable to retrieve their medical records from the physician since he closed
his medical office at 217 W. 11th St. in September.

Klees' lawyer, John Mir, said Klees' release means he will be able to
deliver those records to his patients.

"We want to make sure they get to those patients' hands," he said.

Both sides said it is too early to predict whether the case will be
resolved by a plea agreement.

"We're going to spend some time reviewing the Commonwealth's evidence, of
course," Mir said.

In a related action Thursday, a lawyer representing Klees in a medical
malpractice lawsuit stemming from a patient's death in 2000, petitioned the
court for a change of venue in the case.

John Heisey of Pittsburgh said it will be impossible for Klees to get a
fair trial in Erie County because of publicity surrounding Klees' criminal
case.

Robert Quinn, the father of the late Joseph Quinn, sued Klees and Metro
Health Center, Jonathan Spaulding and Frank Fatica in 2002.

He said his son, Joseph Quinn, died after the defendants failed to diagnose
meningitis during repeat trips to the emergency room in Dec. 8 through Dec.
10, 2000.