DOCTOR FACES NEW PAINKILLER CHARGES

Physician Indicted Again Over Prescription Practices After A Mistrial In
The Fall

ROANOKE - Federal prosecutors once again are going after a doctor they
accuse of contributing to several patients' deaths by illegally dispensing
potent painkillers, particularly OxyContin.

At prosecutors' request, a federal jury in Charlottesville indicted Dr.
Cecil Knox yesterday on 95 counts, including 14 counts of illegally
dispensing medication that led to bodily harm or death and 64 counts of
prescribing medication for no legitimate purpose.

The indictments come less than three months after a federal jury in Roanoke
declined to convict Knox of any of 69 charges against him. Prosecutors had
accused him of contributing to the death of seven patients by
overprescribing painkillers. The jury exonerated Knox on more than 30 of
the charges and deadlocked on the rest, prompting Chief U.S. District Judge
Samuel Wilson to declare a mistrial.

Wilson is still considering whether to dismiss the charges on which the
jury deadlocked.

Yesterday, Knox attorney Tony Anderson reacted with astonishment to news of
the latest indictments. He said he is particularly surprised that
prosecutors would seek the indictments even though Wilson has not yet ruled
on whether to dismiss the previous charges.

Anderson declined to say more, saying he has not yet seen the indictments.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rusty Fitzgerald, who prosecuted the government's
case against Knox during a seven-week trial last fall, could not be reached
for comment.

The new indictments accuse Knox in 14 counts of contributing to the bodily
harm or death of three patients. The 64 counts of illegally prescribing
medication accuse Knox, 54, of dispensing OxyContin and methadone for no
medical purpose.

In Knox's fall trial, prosecutors accused him of running a "pill mill" in
which he handed out the powerful drugs to known addicts. One year, Knox
wrote prescriptions for $1.6 million worth of OxyContin, according to
testimony, becoming the 19th leading prescriber of the drug in the nation.

Anderson, though, told jurors that Knox prescribed so many drugs because he
was a compassionate doctor confronting patients in severe pain who had
nowhere else to turn. Knox testified that he never prescribed more
medication than he thought necessary.

The Charlottesville grand jury indicted Knox on one count of perjury
stemming from his testimony.

The grand jury also indicted Knox on five counts of mail fraud, five counts
of health-care fraud, one count of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to
commit racketeering, one count of criminal conspiracy and three counts of
taking part in an illegal kickback scheme.

In those counts, prosecutors allege that Knox's practice, Southwest
Virginia Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, submitted false claims for
reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare.

Also indicted on 16 charges connected to the alleged fraud and kickback
scheme was Beverly Gale Boone, Knox's nurse and office manager. An
independent counselor who worked at the office, Willard Newbill James Jr.,
was indicted on five fraud and kickback charges, accused of paying money to
Knox in exchange for patient referrals.