DOCTOR SENTENCED FOR GIVING OXYCONTIN

Franklin Sutherland received 70 months in prison, the most severe
sentence so far in an investigation of fraud.

ABINGDON - A Southwest Virginia physician who caused more pain than
he cured was sentenced Thursday to 70 months in prison for
prescribing drugs to abusers.

Franklin Sutherland was convicted earlier this year of using his
clinic in Grundy to dispense thousands of pills to people who had no
medical need for them.

Federal prosecutors said that while most doctors are conscientious
when prescribing powerful painkillers, the exceptions such as
Sutherland have contributed to rampant abuse of OxyContin and other
prescription drugs in far Southwest Virginia.

U.S. District Court Judge James P. Jones said his sentence should
"serve as a warning to those in the medical profession."

The sentence was the most severe so far in an ongoing investigation
of health care fraud in the coalfields. Three other doctors have been
convicted and sentenced ; another is scheduled to be sentenced in
January.

A jury convicted Sutherland, 48, of writing 427 illegal prescriptions
after hearing testimony that many of his patients were addicts or
recreational drug users.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ramseyer said Buchanan County
authorities told him that "the number one drug pushers in our
community are the doctors, and the doctors don't care about what
they're putting on the street.

"All they care about is getting patients and making money."

Sutherland said he was only trying to help people in pain. However,
he admitted that he used bad judgement in some cases and got too
close to his patients, some of whom needed drugs to cope with both
physical pain and chemical dependence.

"I realize that in a lot of these cases I thought with my heart and I
didn't think with my mind," he told Jones. "But your honor, I really
did try to relieve people's pain."

Sutherland had faced up to 262 months in prison under mandatory
sentencing guidelines. But Jones reduced his exposure under the
guidelines after finding that the doctor suffered from diminished
capacity that was caused in part by a head injury he suffered as an
infant.

Defense attorney Thomas Dillard asked the judge to also consider the
many patients - some of whom attended Sutherland's trial and
sentencing - who still regard him as caring doctor and upstanding
citizen.

Sutherland, a third-generation physician, has surrendered his license
and will never practice medicine again, Dillard said. "The sentence
and punishment really has already been imposed," he said, referring
to Sutherland's loss of standing in the medical and local communities.

Ramseyer objected to Jones' decision to put Sutherland in a lower
sentencing range of 70 to 87 months in prison. Although Sutherland
might be a white-collar criminal with standing in the community, the
prosecutor said, he still should be held fully responsible for
distributing more than 20,000 pills.

"What would happen to a street dealer who put 20,000 units of
narcotics on the street?" Ramseyer said.

Tylox and OxyContin made up more than half of the total
prescriptions. Other prescription drugs included Lorcet, Lortab and
Dexedrine.

Federal authorities began to investigate Sutherland five years ago,
after he began to supply pain pills to a drug-addicted Buchanan
County sheriff's deputy he befriended at a health club.

Although the Drug Enforcement Administration has singled out
OxyContin as being particularly prone to abuse, the agency has also
said it has no plans to restrict the drug's availability to
legitimate patients who clearly benefit from it.

Pain management specialists have expressed concerns that negative
publicity about the drug - which has been linked to a surge in crime
and dozens of fatal overdoses in Southwest Virginia - might
discourage doctors from using it.

"Many doctors now are not prescribing any pain medication,"
Sutherland said. "So the people who are truly in pain and suffering
are not able to find a doctor to treat them."