Physician cleared of lawsuits tied to pain prescribing

The doctor is now working to rebuild his practice.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. March 7, 2005.

Six years, four lawsuits and two arrests later, Frank Fisher, MD, is finally out from under the legal cloud that hovered over him since the opioid prescriptions he wrote for his patients in Anderson, Calif., attracted law enforcement's attention.

The Shasta County Superior Court in late January dismissed three wrongful-death civil lawsuits pending against him. The dismissal marked the last legal hurdle that Dr. Fisher needed to overcome to begin clearing his name and rebuilding his practice.

"There is a Chinese curse that says, 'May you live in interesting times,' " he said. "Well, the last six years for me have been very interesting."

In the late '90s, Dr. Fisher had about 3,000 patients, of which 150 received oxycodone prescriptions for pain treatment.

In 1999, Dr. Fisher was arrested on murder, fraud and drug-related conspiracy charges stemming from his pain prescribing practices. He subsequently spent five months in jail.

Of five murder charges, two were quickly dismissed and three others were reduced to manslaughter. In January 2003, the conspiracy and manslaughter charges were dismissed. He was acquitted of the fraud charge in May 2004.

Dr. Fisher's case helped spark California legislation calling for medical experts and law enforcement officials to create protocols to ensure that a "competent medical" review takes place before physicians are charged with prescribing-related offenses. The California Medical Assn. backed the measure.