DOCTORS MAY REAPPLY FOR REVOKED PERMITS

Six Myrtle Beach physicians who in June lost their certification to
prescribe controlled drugs, including the potent pain medication OxyContin,
will have the opportunity early next year to seek to have their privileges
reinstated.

The physicians, whose Drug Enforcement Administration certificates to
prescribe controlled substances were suspended during a DEA investigation,
worked at Comprehensive Care & Pain Management Center at 7714 N. Kings
Highway in Myrtle Beach.

"Their certificates were suspended due to their prescribing practices of
the controlled substances they'd been involved in at the clinic," said
Cherie Crowley, a DEA supervisor in the Columbia office. "OxyContin was the
primary problem. That drug continues to be a problem, but no longer at that
clinic."

Physicians whose certificates were suspended included Benjamin Moore,
Thomas Devlin, Ricardo Allerre, Michael D. Jackson, Deborah Sutherland and
Deborah Bordeaux.

The clinic shut down in June after the DEA sanctions. It remains closed.

The physicians' hearings before an administrative law judge will take place
early next year in Columbia, Crowley said. An exact date for the hearings
has not been set.

"At the hearing, they will be petitioning that the suspensions should be
lifted," Crowley said. "What could happen is they would get their
privileges back or they could be restricted to certain privileges or [the
suspensions] could stand."

The physicians still hold medical licenses and can write other
prescriptions for drugs not considered controlled substances. For example,
they can prescribe blood pressure medication, antibiotics and birth control
pills.

Crowley would not say whether the physicians face criminal action.

"There is an ongoing criminal investigation so I can't speak to that
because it's ongoing," Crowley said.