Richard Paey...A total Miscarrigae of Justice

This is an article I wrote a while back, for another site:

Richard Paey-Patient or Pusher?

Pain and its treatment was a recent subject on "60 Minutes". The main subject of this particular episode was d Richard Paey, who is serving 25 years in Florida for drug trafficking.

He had been living in New Jersey, and had Multiple sclerosis, plus, he had had a serious accident. He was coping, with medium-strength painkillers given to him by his doctor.

But legal problems began when he moved to Florida..some accounts say that it was, at least partly, for his health!!! He was unable to get the medications he needed. One doctor, knowing how closely the DEA watches pain specialists and their patients in Florida, told him, frankly "you're screwed".

What happened next isn't clear; he began presenting prescriptions from his doctor from New Jersey. He was put under surveillance; then arrested, for "drug trafficking-writing forged prescriptions, and distributing or selling them. His doctor, asked if he wrote the prescriptions, at first said "yes", which quickly became "no' when he found that he was being considered-as a co-defendant!

It's unlikely that Paey ever trafficked in drugs (he 's wheelchair-bound-and could only walk short distances, with leg braces, when he first moved to Florida), and it's even questionable if he participated in forgery! The scenario is bit murky, due to the flip-flop attitude of is doctor,which should make other doctors ashamed. Paey doesn't discuss it; most likely,he has been advised by his lawyer not to talk about it because, in case of an appeal, his defense may want to use it to the best possible advantage. Ironically, Paey was actually given stronger drugs, upon being imprisoned. Instead or the Percocet and Vicodin he had been taking, he now is using a morphine pump-courtesy of the Florida Department of Corrections! At least he's off the Tylenol combinations, that were no doubt, damaging his liver, and, is on the morphine he probably has been needing for a long time.But justice won't be served until he gets out of jail, and has the chance to become productive again-this time, with his pain managed properly.

When Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, found that his own daughter had phoned over an unauthorized Xanax prescription, he called it a "personal, family, problem". I don't know why he didn't commute Mr. Paey's conviction; he's been in jail for 5 or 6 years [note for current blog-Paey ws convicted in 2004, so, not quite so long], and he'd be better off paying his own bills (drugs included), and living a productive life.

This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice I've seen, in recent years!!! Even if he committed all the crimes he was charged with, 25 years is much more than what most rapists serve, and even many murderers!

There have been several letter-writing campaigns, but so far, he remains in a Florida jail.

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I write this now, because Mr. Paey's case is being considered for clemency...for what may be the last time. Yes, his crime is similar to mine...if it was, in fact, a crime. He claimed, in an article published by the Pain Relief Network, that his New Jersey doctor, in fact, had given him some undated scripts, for use until he could find a new doctor. A decision is expected tomorrow, and new information should be available on the case, as it develops, on the site mentioned above, which is now added to the 'Helpful Links" part of this blog.

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Update!

Paey freed!

Details to follow-just found out from an impeccable source, who, unfortunately, did not poat a direct link!