daverx
November 3rd, 2003, 01:28 PM
Link: http://www.polkonline.com/stories/103003/loc_suspends.shtml (http://www.polkonline.com/stories/103003/loc_suspends.shtml)
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HAINES CITY -- U.S. drug enforcement agents say they've busted a Haines City-based online prescription scheme that resulted in the near fatal overdose of a California woman.
The DEA suspended last week Dr. Jean Coileau Dominique's license to prescribe narcotics, accusing him of being "an imminent danger to public health and safety."
Dominique, who used addresses at 135 N. Sixth St. and 608 Jones St., both in Haines City, can challenge the suspension. No date was set for the hearing, said Joe Kilmer, a Miami-based DEA spokesman. A request for comment left at Dominique's Jones Street office, advertised as Mid-Florida Medical Walk-In Clinic, went unanswered.
Haines City records list no occupational license for a physician's office at either downtown location.
Investigators report that Dominique purchased more than 4 million doses of hydrocodone, a painkiller, from a single distributor between last November and Aug. 12.
A state Department of Health Web site listed no disciplinary action Wednesday against Dominique. A spokeswoman had no further information.
Dominique, who moved his office from Kissimmee earlier this year, is accused of violating the DEA's 18-month-old prohibition on prescribing narcotics based solely on Internet or telephone exams. According to the suspension order, Dominique sent potentially addictive drugs to faceless patients who filled out online surveys after phone interviews.
According to reports, two sham patients used by DEA investigators in Orlando acquired hydrocodone, a class of opiate including Vicodin, without face-to-face exams or medical records. The orders were filled strictly based on a phone conversation. In one case, the fictitious patient reported never having his "Jet Ski" injury examined by a physician.
Employees who were not necessarily physicians conducted the phone interviews in both cases before painkillers and refills were mailed to the DEA agent. Dominique, who reportedly saw patients at 135 N. Sixth St. above Cardsync, allegedly informed an associate the activity was in a "gray area" under Florida law.
Investigators raided Dominique's Jones Avenue office Oct. 22. A single receptionist was the only office worker apparent Wednesday. She did not expect Dominique to return to the office. DEA agents report Dominique "saw few, if any, walk-in patients" at either Haines City office, or the original office in Kissimmee.
Neighbors reported seeing only office workers entering offices in the remodeled former Pit Stop bar. Dominique maintained offices at the CardSync credit card processing building while the bar was being remodeled, property owner Larry Baldwin said. But Baldwin still has not finished the upstairs where Dominique allegedly told the DEA he examined patients.
Baldwin owned the Pit Stop until two months ago. The site was purchased for $220,000 in August by Huevel & Associates Inc., Davenport. Employees at Cardsync declined Wednesday to comment on the case. Baldwin continues to own the Cardsync building on upper Sixth Street.
According to reports, a Hollister, Calif., woman identified only as "D.R." nearly overdosed on a combination of alcohol and Valium that Dominique prescribed about a week after he received DEA permission to move to Jones Avenue. She was discovered unconscious the day a drug refill arrived, according to DEA investigators.
Before Dominique moved to Haines City, hydrocodone he reportedly prescribed online contributed to the fatal overdose of a San Francisco man last September. Two other physicians also prescribed painkillers taken simultaneously by the man who later died.
According to the DEA, patients who tried to cancel their order could not say no to Dominique's office staff. An Oberlin, Ohio, air traffic controller originally acquired 100 doses of Vicodin from Dominique "bas
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HAINES CITY -- U.S. drug enforcement agents say they've busted a Haines City-based online prescription scheme that resulted in the near fatal overdose of a California woman.
The DEA suspended last week Dr. Jean Coileau Dominique's license to prescribe narcotics, accusing him of being "an imminent danger to public health and safety."
Dominique, who used addresses at 135 N. Sixth St. and 608 Jones St., both in Haines City, can challenge the suspension. No date was set for the hearing, said Joe Kilmer, a Miami-based DEA spokesman. A request for comment left at Dominique's Jones Street office, advertised as Mid-Florida Medical Walk-In Clinic, went unanswered.
Haines City records list no occupational license for a physician's office at either downtown location.
Investigators report that Dominique purchased more than 4 million doses of hydrocodone, a painkiller, from a single distributor between last November and Aug. 12.
A state Department of Health Web site listed no disciplinary action Wednesday against Dominique. A spokeswoman had no further information.
Dominique, who moved his office from Kissimmee earlier this year, is accused of violating the DEA's 18-month-old prohibition on prescribing narcotics based solely on Internet or telephone exams. According to the suspension order, Dominique sent potentially addictive drugs to faceless patients who filled out online surveys after phone interviews.
According to reports, two sham patients used by DEA investigators in Orlando acquired hydrocodone, a class of opiate including Vicodin, without face-to-face exams or medical records. The orders were filled strictly based on a phone conversation. In one case, the fictitious patient reported never having his "Jet Ski" injury examined by a physician.
Employees who were not necessarily physicians conducted the phone interviews in both cases before painkillers and refills were mailed to the DEA agent. Dominique, who reportedly saw patients at 135 N. Sixth St. above Cardsync, allegedly informed an associate the activity was in a "gray area" under Florida law.
Investigators raided Dominique's Jones Avenue office Oct. 22. A single receptionist was the only office worker apparent Wednesday. She did not expect Dominique to return to the office. DEA agents report Dominique "saw few, if any, walk-in patients" at either Haines City office, or the original office in Kissimmee.
Neighbors reported seeing only office workers entering offices in the remodeled former Pit Stop bar. Dominique maintained offices at the CardSync credit card processing building while the bar was being remodeled, property owner Larry Baldwin said. But Baldwin still has not finished the upstairs where Dominique allegedly told the DEA he examined patients.
Baldwin owned the Pit Stop until two months ago. The site was purchased for $220,000 in August by Huevel & Associates Inc., Davenport. Employees at Cardsync declined Wednesday to comment on the case. Baldwin continues to own the Cardsync building on upper Sixth Street.
According to reports, a Hollister, Calif., woman identified only as "D.R." nearly overdosed on a combination of alcohol and Valium that Dominique prescribed about a week after he received DEA permission to move to Jones Avenue. She was discovered unconscious the day a drug refill arrived, according to DEA investigators.
Before Dominique moved to Haines City, hydrocodone he reportedly prescribed online contributed to the fatal overdose of a San Francisco man last September. Two other physicians also prescribed painkillers taken simultaneously by the man who later died.
According to the DEA, patients who tried to cancel their order could not say no to Dominique's office staff. An Oberlin, Ohio, air traffic controller originally acquired 100 doses of Vicodin from Dominique "bas