PATIENT SAYS PHYSICIAN COACHED HER

Informant Testifies In Trial Of Prescription Drug Case

GREENUP -- A key prosecution witness testified yesterday that Dr. Rodolfo
Santos last year twice gave her prescriptions for controlled substances at
a South Shore clinic after saying he could tell she was in pain by the way
she walked.

"But he didn't see me walk," said undercover informant Mary Reed, who said
Santos coached her on pain symptoms after he met with her former doctor,
the clinic's owner.

"He's asking, 'Do you have pain in your back?' and he's nodding his head so
I know that's what I'm supposed to say," Reed said.

Santos, 65, of Myersdale, Pa., was one of the last of about 16 physicians
who worked at Plaza Healthcare clinic in South Shore after its owner, Dr.
David Procter, surrendered his medical license. After leaving the clinic,
three doctors were indicted on prescription-drug charges at other locations
and have either been convicted or pleaded guilty in state and federal courts.

Procter and two former office managers also were indicted last year on
federal prescription-drug charges. Their trial is set April 28.

State officials say Santos prescribed 2.5 million units of controlled drugs
to 2,500 patients during 13 months at the clinic.

He was indicted twice last year by separate Greenup County grand juries.
Currently, he is being tried on a seven-count indictment charging him with
prescribing controlled substances for non-medical purposes that stem from
office visits by Reed in April and May last year.

No trial date has been set for a separate indictment handed down in November.

Reed, 43, a Greenup native who now lives in Sciotoville, Ohio, was the only
witness yesterday on the third day of the trial, which resumes Monday.

Reed said Procter was her family physician in the 1980s when she became
hooked on "nerve pills."

Reed made an audiotape of Procter agreeing to arrange her first appointment
with Santos. "I'll take care of it for you," Procter said in the tape,
which was played in court.

Reed said she paid $150 in cash for her first visit and waited five hours
at the clinic before seeing Santos.

After greeting her, Santos went into Procter's office for about 15 minutes,
she said.

When he returned, Santos prescribed what Greenup Commonwealth's Attorney
Cliff Duvall had described as a drug "cocktail" that included Lorset, a
hydrocodone painkiller; Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug; and Soma, a muscle
relaxant. He also added a prescription for Ibuprofen, a non-narcotic
pain-killer.

"He already knew after he went to see Dr. Procter what he was going to give
me," Reed said.

At times, however, Reed's testimony appeared to buttress an opening
statement by Santos' attorney, Michael Curtis of Ashland, that Santos was
practicing responsible medicine.

Twice, Santos did not touch $500 that Reed tried to give him for extra
prescriptions, she said. He also warned her he had already "fired" about
350 patients for "doctor shopping," she said.

On tape, Santos seemed to examine Reed for pain. He repeatedly told her to
take Ibuprofen instead of Lorset.

"You will get hooked on narcotics later ... if you don't overdose," Santos
said in the tape. "There are already five deaths from Lorsets and they
overdosed. But if you don't overdose, you can get withdrawal symptom from
pain, eh? And that is pain you don't need, eh?"