Feds investigating Dr. Foley

By Shawn McGrath, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer

May 01, 2009 11:20 am

— ANDERSON — A Middletown doctor is part of a federal investigation, and the physician says it has happened before and considers it borderline harassment.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency subpoenaed information from The Herald Bulletin on March 3, related to a story on Anderson resident and Middletown general practitioner Dr. Phillip Foley.
Reporter Justin Schneider wrote in February a feature story on Foley and his nearly 45 years practicing medicine. The story was part of “Takin’ it to the Street Beat,” a monthly radio program hosted by the newspaper and WHBU. The location for the broadcast changes each month. In February, the show was broadcast from Middletown Medical Clinic, where Foley practices.
Following the broadcast, Schneider’s story was placed on the newspaper’s Web site and several people posted comments online. The statements were removed, however, because the nature of the comments didn’t conform with the newspaper’s guidelines, according to Scott Underwood, The Herald Bulletin’s editor.
The DEA sent a subpoena to the newspaper in March, asking for copies of the comments, an explanation for their removal, the date and time they were sent and the e-mail address of the sender.
The newspaper refused the DEA’s request through its attorneys.
“We declined to provide the information,” Underwood said. “On principle and as a legal matter, journalists have a right to protect the identity of their sources. On a practical level, we couldn’t provide the information anyway. It had been automatically purged from our server by the time we received the subpoena.”
Drug Enforcement officials declined to comment about the investigation.
“We don’t confirm or deny an investigation into anyone,” said Special Agent Joanna DeSanto, spokeswoman for the DEA’s Chicago Field Division, which includes Indiana. Dennis Wichern, from the Indianapolis office of the DEA, echoed DeSanto’s comment.
For his part, Foley seemed nonplused when asked about the investigation. He said he has been regularly investigated by the DEA since the mid-1970s.
“They do that all the time,” Foley said Saturday. “Probably a couple of times per year.”
Foley, 72, acknowledged he probably writes more prescriptions for pain medications than other doctors. He said that is because he has more patients than many other physicians. He also said other doctors are reluctant to write prescriptions for those with severe pain problems, fearing they too will fall under suspicion. They are reluctant to tackle pain-management issues, he said.
Foley said he screens his patients. He said he ensures the prescriptions he writes for controlled substances are real by running tests, such as MRIs and CAT scans.
“I always make sure they have legitimate (problems),” he said. “Ordinary doctors are scared to write prescriptions.”
Foley said he’s been under grand jury investigation in the past, and no charges have ever been filed. According to Mary Bippus, public affairs officer at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Indianapolis, no federal charges have ever been filed against Foley.
He has never been charged locally for fraudulently prescribing medications. His medical license is in good standing, according to the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana.
“They think everyone who takes pain medicine are drug users,” Foley said. “And the doctors who write the prescriptions are drug pushers.
“Doctors are afraid to do it.”
In 1994, he said, investigators subpoenaed records for prescriptions he had issued for the previous three years. Nothing was uncovered, he said, but authorities have pressured him to retire in the past.
“They’ve had five or six grand juries, and they never found anything,” Foley said.
The family of one of his former patients sued him in 2006, saying her death was related to the over-prescribing of medication. Taine Watkins, Brandon Couch and Julie Couch sued Foley after their mother, Deborah Maxwell, died in June 2006. They claimed he was negligent by prescribing “highly addictive drugs” over a period of 20 years.
Maxwell, a lifelong Anderson resident, died in Bedford, Ind., after a sudden illness, according to her obituary. The lawsuit claimed Foley was negligent in not addressing Maxwell’s “symptoms of drug abuse and addiction,” among other issues.
Foley denied any wrongdoing, saying Maxwell was under another doctor’s care in the month preceding her death.
“It wasn’t really related to me,” he said. “They were just money grabbers. They just wanted to make some money. I didn’t do anything wrong to that girl.”
Maxwell’s children could not be reached for comment. The family’s then-attorney, Mary Findling of Indianapolis, maintained the allegations in the complaint. Findling said she is no longer a member of same law firm where she worked when the lawsuit was filed, and could not comment.
“Good,” Findling said of the possible DEA investigation into Foley. “That’s my comment.”
The Maxwell case was settled before going to trial. Findling declined to disclose the terms. Foley said his insurance company settled the case for $75,000. An Indiana Department of Insurance medical review panel found that Foley’s record keeping was “inadequate,” but determined it was not a factor in Maxwell’s death.
Foley, who said he plans to retire in about a year, maintains he is being persecuted by the government.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “I try to stay within the guidelines. I’m not doing anything wrong, and I’ll not let the government say I’m doing anything wrong.”

Contact Shawn McGrath: 640-4883, shawn.mcgrath@heraldbulletin.com