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Pain Clinic Worker Testifies [in New Orleans 'Pill Mill' Case]
 

 
Michael Perlstein; The Times-Picayune (New Orleans); 2006-07-07. Posted: 2006-07-15.
[Identifier: http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/WOD/WPS13-NoPillMill/NoPillMillWorkerTestifies06.htm]
[Source: http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1152254124191230.xml?NSCRI&coll=1]
 
Related resources:
PAIN RELIEF NETWORK website
 
War on Doctors Academic and Legal archives  ;  Drug War Journalism and Advocacy archives
  
See also:
The New Orleans 'Pill Mill' Case - Venal Pols and Prosecutors Conspire to Ban Pain Management
WAR ON PAIN SUFFERERS #13; compiled by Alexander DeLuca; 2006-07-15
 
War on Doctors and Pain Crisis Weekly - RSS feed:   HTML view:
 

Devin Johnson said she answered a help wanted ad in 2001 to become a nanny, but instead received a call from Cherlyn "Cookie" Armstrong asking if she wanted to work at a medical clinic.

Johnson, testifying at Armstrong's trial Thursday, said she ended up working for Armstrong for three years, assessing patients, administering physical therapy, filling out medical records and taking patients' blood pressure at Armstrong's three high-volume pain-management clinics.

At the time she worked at the clinics, Johnson hadn't even attended college.

"I just complied with the rules," she told the 12-person jury. "I was just there to do as I was told."

Armstrong, 46, is accused of operating a sham medical business with storefront locations in Metairie, Slidell and Gretna, dispensing addictive narcotics to virtually anybody who showed up with cash. Some patients, according to prosecutors, routinely made the circuit of all three locations to stockpile drugs, their only apparent medical problem being their addiction.

Johnson testified that as many as 250 patients a day would pass through a single location of Scherer's Medical Clinic, jamming the parking lot and lining up outside waiting for the doors to open. She said many patients collected the same preprinted prescription every two weeks for the entire time she worked there. Some patients, she testified, grew sickly over the years, losing weight, strength and color. A few died, she said.

Armstrong, along with Dr. Suzette Cullins, 44, are being tried on federal charges of conspiracy to illegally dispense controlled substances without a medical purpose. Armstrong, a registered nurse, also faces a money-laundering charge.

In opening statements earlier in the week, attorneys for Armstrong and Cullins denied any wrongdoing, arguing that their clients provided a valuable medical service to thousands of patients forced to live with pain.

The testimony of Johnson dominated the legal proceedings Thursday, but her appearance was cut short by unexpected drama in the courtroom when one of the prosecutors, longtime Assistant U.S. Attorney William McSherry, collapsed during a bench conference late in the afternoon. Before paramedics arrived, there was a tense, awkward moment in which Cullins rushed to administer medical help to the stricken prosecutor.

McSherry was later revived from what was determined to be a hypoglycemic fainting spell.

During her testimony, Johnson said business boomed at Armstrong's clinics during her time there, especially when Armstrong opened pharmacies adjacent to the Metairie and Slidell locations. Patients were required to pay in cash, Johnson said, with rates set at $210 for the initial visit, $80 for follow-up visits every two weeks and a $20 late fee if a patient missed a two-week appointment.

"Only Cookie and her family were allowed to handle the money," Johnson testified, identifying Armstrong's sister, mother and husband, attorney Steven Prejean, as the three relatives who worked at the clinics.

Federal prosecutors showed the jury a copy of one of Scherer's preprinted prescriptions, the standard treatment for most of Armstrong's patients. The prescriptions were used to dispense a powerful combination of drugs -- painkiller hydrocodone, anti-anxiety drug Xanax and muscle relaxant Soma -- known on the street as "the holy trinity," according to the Drug Enforcement Administration agents who spent several years investigating Scherer's.

Prosecutors also presented preprinted medical assessments that were placed in the patients' files and, according to Johnson, usually completed before a patient was ever seen by a doctor.

"We were supposed to fill them out in less than a minute," Johnson testified. "That was Miss Cookie's orders."

While the clinics had difficulty retaining doctors and physical therapists, Johnson said, some were mainstays, rotating among the three clinics and working Saturdays. Cullins was among the busiest, Johnson testified, writing prescriptions for patients even after they were rejected by other doctors at the clinic.

"If there were 100 patients, she saw 75 of them," Johnson said.

Last month, two former clinic doctors pleaded guilty in the case. Dr. Joseph Guenther and Dr. Betty DeLoach are expected to testify later in the trial.

Michael Perlstein can be reached at mperlstein@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3316.

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