LUYAO CHARGED IN 4 DEATHS

FORT PIERCE -- A Port St. Lucie doctor previously charged with providing
potentially lethal doses of OxyContin to patients was charged Monday with
four counts of manslaughter.

The State Attorney's Office charged Dr. Asuncion Luyao, 60, with 12 counts
of trafficking OxyContin, 4 counts of manslaughter and one count of
continuing criminal enterprise.

Twelve patients under Luyao's care died of suspicious causes, according to
a medical examiner's report.

The manslaughter charges filed Monday are tied to the deaths of Janice
Byers, Robert Gustaf, Julia Hartsfield and Tina Smith. All four died in
2001 -- Byers on Nov. 17; Gustaf on Oct. 29; Hartsfield on June 12 and
Smith on July 13.

Luyao turned herself in at the St. Lucie County Jail shortly before 11 a.m.
on Monday, and walked out within minutes of being booked.

She spent 49 days in jail after her first arrest March 26 and her bond did
not change despite the manslaughter charges. Prosecutors said the original
$455,000 bond took into account the possibility of the additional
manslaughter charges.

Luyao was arraigned on all 17 counts in court. Circuit Court Judge Dwight
Geiger entered not guilty pleas for Luyao on all counts.

"These four charges were appropriate to file at this time," Tom Bakkedahl,
assistant state attorney. said. "We took our time because we wanted to
provide her with every benefit of the doubt. These new charges are based on
the strength of proof."

Bakkedahl said his office is still reviewing two of the 12 suspicious
deaths to determine if additional manslaughter charges are warranted.

Luyao's attorney, Joel Hirschhorn of Miami, said he has talked at length
with prosecutors and was aware the new charges were coming.

"I am pleased the State Attorney's Office is acting responsibly,"
Hirschhorn said. "A less responsible office would have thrown all the
deaths in the mix and let the court sort them out.

"Not that I'm conceding the state is right."

Both sides agreed to an order that protects Luyao's patients from having
their medical records made public. They also agreed to change Luyao's
curfew if she finds a new job. At present, the conditions of Luyao's bond
restrict her from leaving home between the hours of 7 p.m. and 9 a.m.

In March, the state Health Department stripped Luyao of her medical license
following her first arrest.

Luyao has been out of work since local law enforcement officials shut down
her medical office at 9474 S. U.S. 1 in Port St. Lucie following her first
arrest.

A lengthy investigation of the doctor began after Treasure Coast Regional
Medical Examiner Dr. Roger Mittleman wrote a letter to the state Health
Department late last year in which he detailed his concerns over the deaths
of 12 of Luyao's patients.

An undercover state investigator posed as a patient to determine what type
of care Luyao was providing. Luyao treated the investigator for phony back
pain on six visits in 2001. After Luyao's arrest, the investigator
testified in court that Luyao prescribed him large doses of OxyContin and
other prescription medications without being fully examined.

Investigators served a search warrant on her office in December 2001. Cash
totaling $63,000 was found in a bag in a filing cabinet, investigators
said. Prosecutors said she pocketed cash in exchange for OxyContin
prescriptions.

St. Lucie County Sheriff deputies arrested Luyao, a Philippine native, and
Geiger originally set a $1.89 million bond.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled the bond was too high and Geiger
reset it at $455,000. Luyao has been free on bond since May 14.

Both sides said the discovery process would take months. Geiger wanted to
set Luyao's trial for August, but both sides said that did not allow enough
time. Bakkedahl said there are at least 7,500 pages of evidence to review,
mostly medical records.

Geiger rescheduled the trial for Sept. 4.