Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2003 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Zeke MacCormack, San Antonio Express-News SUSPENDED DOCTOR PLEADS GUILTY, IS SENT TO REHAB A Kerrville doctor who pleaded guilty to prescription fraud Friday received deferred adjudication and was ordered to enroll in a drug treatment program, officials said.Urologist Thomas Cammack, whose medical license was suspended in June, faced up to 20 years behind bars for the five felonies dating to 2001 and 2002. Prosecutor Lucy Cavazos said Cammack admitted in court to writing prescriptions for narcotics in the names of unsuspecting patients on 57 occasions, and then getting the drugs at pharmacies and consuming them himself. She asked District Judge Karl Prohl to convict Cammack, 46, and give him 10 years' probation. But Prohl opted for leniency after two colleagues of Cammack testified to their own bouts with substance abuse. Cammack was ordered to undergo six months of inpatient treatment at a secure facility, to then live two months in a halfway house, and to do 500 hours of community service. No conviction will be on his record if the 10-year probationary period passes without incident. "If that's the sentence the judge feels is appropriate, then I respect his decision," Cavazos said. Cammack, who was placed on six years' probation/deferred adjudication for a similar offense in 1994, could not be reached for comment Friday. The plea likely will spur a review of his medical license. Records of the Texas Board of Medical Examiners show it placed him on five years of probation in 1995 - but didn't suspend his medical license - under an agreed order concerning his "intemperate use of alcohol or drugs." A pre-sentencing report prepared for Friday's hearing states Cammack's drug use dates to the 1970s and included cocaine, heroin, LSD, PCP, amphetamines, opiates and marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake