N.C. MEDICAL BOARD HOLDS TALLEY'S FATE

Officials expect the Raleigh hearing room to be packed Thursday when
self-styled pain specialist Dr. Joseph Talley faces the N.C. Medical Board
to answer charges that could end his 35-year medical career.

"We don't have any extra space," Dale Breaden, public affairs director for
the N.C. Medical Board, said of the hearing room.

"We already have a bunch of reporters on the list and TV too. There is a
lot of public interest and it's a small room."

The board has accused Talley, 64, of misprescribing addictive painkillers,
violating medical ethics, unprofessional conduct and deviating from
standard care of patients, including prescribing painkillers to patients
without giving adequate examinations or taking proper history.

If proven to the board's satisfaction, the allegations could cost the
Grover physician his license to practice medicine.

Breaden said the board has set aside an unprecedented three days for the
case, which puts the spotlight on the dominant use of narcotics in the
treatment of chronic pain.

Thursday's hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

On another front, Talley is being investigated by the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, which confiscated cartons of medical records
and suspended his DEA number - his license to prescribe controlled substances.

No charges have been brought against him by the government agency, but if
he is charged and found guilty, he could go to prison.