Pubdate: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 Source: Stuart News, The (FL) Copyright: 2002 E.W. Scripps Co. Contact: http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/stuart_news/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/612 Author: Gabriel Margasak Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n592/a11.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin) PHYSICIAN TOOK BACK SUSPICIOUS PATIENT STUART A Port St. Lucie doctor who is facing prescription drug trafficking charges prescribed OxyContin for a Stuart man last year even after she became suspicious he was receiving it from other physicians, a state investigation released Friday shows. Investigators from the Florida Attorney General's Office said Dr. Asuncion Luyao was treating Stuart resident Shaun D. Jones in July 2001. At that time, they allege, she received an anonymous letter stating he was obtaining the powerful painkiller from another physician. She then dropped him as a patient. But two months later, "sympathetic to Jones' complaint he was suffering from 'chronic pain to low back and lower ankle,'" Luyao, "accepted Jones back as a patient," the records state. The investigation was released in Martin County court records relating to Jones, 32, of 5914 S.E. Mitzi Lane, who was arrested and charged Thursday with six counts of trafficking in oxycodone, the pain killing chemical in the brand-name OxyContin. He was also charged with six counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. Luyao, who was not charged in the Jones complaint, told investigators she was unaware he was being treated by other physicians, the report states. Luyao was arrested Tuesday on prescription drug trafficking and related charges. The state Department of Health also suspended her medical license, citing complaints that drugs prescribed by the doctor "caused or contributed to" the deaths of 12 patients. She was being held Friday in the St. Lucie County jail on almost $2 million bail. Her lawyer called it "ridiculous" to blame the doctor for the drug-related deaths of her patients. Jones, meanwhile, was arrested in February after state investigators alleged he fraudulently used his son's Medicaid number to obtain prescription drugs. He bailed out of the Martin County jail the day of his arrest. As part of that investigation, investigators from the state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit reported Jones had been "doctor shopping," going to different physicians for prescriptions and filling them at different pharmacies to avoid detection. According to the state's investigation, the known drug activity began in 2000 when he was being treated by several doctors. At the time, investigators said the physicians "unknowingly" treated Jones at the same time. From Jan. 8 to June 11 of 2001, authorities allege Jones made 16 trips to at least three doctors, including Luyao. From all three doctors, he obtained prescriptions for OxyContin, a powerful pain reliever. Several of the physicians became suspicious Jones was "doctor shopping" and dropped him as a patient, according to the report. Luyao did the same, the report states, but took him back and continued prescribing OxyContin and methadone, even after she received the anonymous letter. Luyao and two other physicians were interviewed by state investigators. All said that, when they were treating Jones, they were "unaware Jones was being treated by any other physician(s). Each physician stated they would not have treated Jones or prescribed the narcotics if they had known he was being treated elsewhere. ..." Jones was being held Friday at the Martin County jail on $630,000 bail. - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel