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On July 24, 2002 Dr. Benjamin Moore took his own life in Winston-Salem, NC. He had worked at a pain management clinic under investigation by the DEA. Browbeaten into a plea-bargain he was awaiting sentencing at the time of his death.

Dr. BenJamin Moore 1957 - 2002

From A Personal Memory of Dr. Moore Dr. Moore became entangled in the vast web that is our legal system and was helpless against the power, resources, and cunning of predatory government agents. Ben started out with a vigorous defense, but repeated DEA debriefings wore him down. How could the American government allow these people to continue destroying everything they touch? How could this happen in America, and how could it happen to him? Ben was tired. His situation was hopeless, with his career ruined beyond repair and facing prison for crimes he never committed. Dr. Benjamin Moore defied the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration. He stood alone and they were legion. He would have liked to warn the world, but everybody was busy. The world appeared indifferent to truth, as it always does until truth becomes reality. Ben knew no one was coming to help him, but everyone wished him well.      From Dr. J.S. Hochman,      National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain Perhaps, Dr. Moore, we will some day present an annual award memorialzing you, for the bravest doctor in Pain care in America. We wish you had been braver, and not let them hound you to an early death. But we salute you for what you were able to do - before the curtain fell on your hopes and dreams. God bless and God speed. May you rest in peace and may you always be remembered by those who loved you. Paincare Report 2002 Dr. J.S. Hochman I have learned many lessons in the last year. I learned that pain patients needed to come together and make a righteous noise. I am pleased to say it has started. Being able to express oneself, being heard by others, making transcontinental and even international connections, are powerful experiences for people who had lived with their pain in isolation. Recognizing that they are part of a constituency is an emerging phenomenon. We discovered that in 2002 the Drug Enforcement Agency investigated 681 physicians in the United States, and brought actions against 597 of them. The data from the National Practitioners Data Bank reveals that the number of DEA prosecutions of doctors increased 15 fold between 1996 and 1997. Obviously a campaign was begun at that time to "get doctors". So today we have a situation in which the DEA peruses lists of the most frequent prescribers of controlled substances and simply goes after the doctors at the top of the prescribing list. With virtually inexhaustible resources, both from bloated budgets and huge sums confiscated and seized, these agencies can invest 1000s of hours sifting through the medical records of targeted physicians. Finding any omission in record-keeping or any deficiency in clinical notes, physical examinations, or prescriptive records, human discrepancy or omission is turned into felonious indictment. Then helpless doctors have no alternative other than to "cop a plea" to one or two out of 300 charges that have been thrown at them (and lose their career in the process) or bankrupt themselves pursuing legal defenses that often take three years to win. During those three years they cannot practice (Boards of Medicine suspend their licenses the moment they are indicted for a felony - they are guilty until proven innocent) cannot earn a living, and must sell everything they own to prove their innocence. Connected to this I learned that there is a desperate need for Pain Practice Liability insurance. 1000 doctors are being recruited to begin this insurance. They will pay $150 a month to gain $250,000 in legal defense protection. Further, they will be protected by an in-house legal organization led by one of the most experienced and respected attorneys in this arcane area of the law. Finally, an independent board of experts is being organized to review all charges against doctors, to determine if their practices conformed to the Standard of Care and Record Keeping required by the contract of insurance, and whether there is any credible evidence of criminal intent. This Board, the Professional Advisory and Review Committee (PARC), composed of top U.S. medical and legal experts, will put the medical profession back in charge of reviewing medical practice (and take it back from prosecutors and hand-picked grand juries). The National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain, receiving 13,000 visitors to its web site every day, intends to cause an enormous stir in the coming year. America needs a Pain Patients Bill of Rights and a Sane Drug Policy. Political opportunism and ideological espionage have no place in modern, scientific, medicine. J.S.Hochman MD Executive Director Physicians currently with charges against them

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