Pubdate: Tue, 25 Nov 2003
Source: Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright: 2003 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Contact:  http://www.theadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
Author: Penny Brown Roberts, Advocate staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)

DOCTOR CHARGED IN DRUG SCHEME

Suspect Enters Treatment Program

A Baton Rouge family physician faces state and federal drug-trafficking 
charges after allegedly prescribing thousands of pain pills to a recovering 
drug addict in exchange for guns and giving cocaine to another patient. Dr. 
Mark M. Cotter, 38, 5806 Highland Road, agreed Monday to surrender his 
medical license and prescription license and enter a three-month substance 
abuse treatment program in Monroe.

Cotter, who ran the Rejuvenation and Wellness Clinic, 5215 Essen Lane, was 
arrested Sunday night after a six-month investigation by the Drug 
Enforcement Agency and Baton Rouge area authorities that began in June.

Cotter is accused in a federal criminal complaint of drug distribution, 
possession and use of a communication facility to facilitate a felony. 
State authorities also have charged him with four counts of distribution, 
Baton Rouge Police spokeswoman Cpl. Mary Ann Godawa said Monday.

"We've been informed that Dr. Cotter is an addict," First Assistant U.S. 
Attorney Lyman Thornton said during a hearing Monday afternoon. Authorities 
said they believe Cotter may have been using marijuana, Ecstasy and 
methamphetamines.

"We're certainly pleased he's being released; he's going to be getting some 
much-needed treatment," Cotter's attorney Aidan Reynolds said. "This was a 
day of justice tempered with mercy."

According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint, Cotter 
routinely prescribed OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax, hydrocodone and other pain 
medications to his patients without examining them or discussing their 
medical history.

Cotter's clients generally paid $150 in cash for their office visits, which 
consisted of a brief conversation in a room with a table and two chairs but 
no examining table. At least one patient went to Cotter's home to get a 
prescription, according to the affidavit.

The doctor then sent patients to McGee's Pharmacy, 7731 Perkins Road, after 
Walgreens, Wal-Mart and other pharmacies refused to fill Cotter's 
prescriptions, investigators claim. The owners of McGee's Pharmacy could 
not be reached Monday for comment.

"Cotter is providing controlled substance prescriptions to abusers despite 
awareness of actual harm," DEA Special Agent Lisa Gigante wrote in the 
affidavit. "Cotter is in effect operating a prescription mill for his own 
financial profit."

Doug Arceneaux, a former patient of Cotter's, told investigators the 
physician had prescribed him more than 20,000 OxyContin pills in a 
three-year period. Arceneaux claimed he spent nearly $26,000 on the drug in 
one year at the Medicine Shop in Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish.

Arceneaux told federal authorities he often did not have cash to pay 
Cotter, so he traded handguns, shotguns and on one occasion an AK-47 
assault rifle for prescriptions.

Arceneaux -- who told authorities he became addicted to the drug -- last 
year sued Purdue Pharma, the manufacturers of OxyContin, in U.S. District 
Court in Baton Rouge, but dropped the lawsuit last month. He now has a 
lawsuit against Cotter pending in state District Court in Baton Rouge.

Neither Arceneaux nor his attorney, Marvin Gros of Donaldsonville, could be 
reached Monday for comment.

A college student who is another former patient told authorities Cotter 
wrote her a prescription for Adderall after she requested an allergy 
medication, according to the affidavit. When she began experiencing side 
effects, her regular family physician told her to stop taking the drug.

Adderall routinely is prescribed for hyperactivity and attention deficit 
disorder, but it is also abused by college students because it enhances 
concentration for studying, DEA agents said.

While federal authorities don't know how many patients Cotter might have 
been seeing, one of the doctor's former employees has provided a list of 
nearly 70 clients she suspects may have been addicts, according to the 
affidavit.

U.S. Attorney David Dugas said authorities "are continuing to investigate 
the activities of Dr. Cotter."

Dr. Robert Be, a 36-year-old Baton Rouge physician who has known Cotter 
since medical school, said he "would never have guessed" his colleague 
might be arrested on drug charges.

"He's a good guy," Be said. "He really practiced more homeopathic medicine, 
which is not something that I practice myself. But I know him as a good 
person who cared about his family and cared about his patients."

Cotter filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 2001, listing assets of 
$256,760 and debts of $486,380 -- including $130,000 to the Internal 
Revenue Service. The case was closed in March after Cotter sold several 
pieces of artwork, antiques and a piece of property.
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