Portsmouth Woman Suing Suspended Lewis County Doctor

OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS KILLED SON, SUIT ALLEGES

COVINGTON - A Portsmouth woman is blaming a suspended Lewis County doctor
for her son's death, according to federal court documents.

Patricia Powers filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in
Covington alleging that Dr. Fortune Williams was negligent in
over-prescribing drugs to her son, Anthony Stiltner, who died Aug. 31 at
the age of 29.

The suit alleges that Williams prescribed painkillers, including
hydrocodone, for Stiltner 34 times between Oct. 16, 2000 and Aug. 27, 2001.

The suit seeks $1.5 million in compensatory damages.

Stiltner died in Scioto County Jail of hypertensive heart disease,
according to the suit.

He had just reported to the jail to serve a 90-day sentence for driving
with a suspended license, Powers said.

"The autopsy records suggest the drugs caused his death," said Robert B.
Newman of Cincinnati, Powers' attorney. "It was certainly below the
standards of care to have prescribed drugs in those numbers and frequency."

Stiltner's blood pressure was checked in Williams' office in Garrison and
found to be high, but Williams didn't treat it, Powers said.

When Stiltner went to Williams, originally for treatment of pain following
a motorcycle crash, Williams prescribed the pain medication but nothing for
blood pressure, she said.

The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure suspended Williams' license Oct.
30, saying his practice represented "an immediate threat" to Kentucky citizens.

The suspension was based on a review of patient records seized when state
and local authorities raided Williams' pain management clinic in September.

The board found that Williams had written more than 46,000 prescriptions
for controlled substances over an 81/2-month period without properly
examining patients and without medical reason, and that he saw as many as
30 patients per hour and spent only two or three minutes with each.

Newman said he hadn't been able to locate Williams to serve him with the
suit. He plans to serve Williams at a hearing scheduled before the medical
board April 9 and 10.

Williams couldn't be reached for comment, and an attorney representing him
in the medical board matter said he didn't yet represent him in the suit.

The attorney, J. Fox Demoisey of Louisville, said Williams probably would
be at the medical board hearing.

At that proceeding, a hearing officer will consider whether Williams'
license should be revoked, Demoisey said. However, a final decision on
revocation probably won't come for several months, he said.

Ron Burgess, an investigator for the state Attorney General's office, is
"finishing up a final report" on his inquiry into Williams' case, according
to Barbara Hadley Smith, a spokeswoman for the office.

Burgess will send his report to Cliff Duvall, commonwealth's attorney for
Lewis and Greenup counties, who will decide whether to present the case to
a grand jury, Hadley Smith said.

"It is not set for a grand jury at this time," she said Tuesday.