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Commonwealth v. Paolino12/2/2003
1 Richard Paolino appeals from his judgment of sentence of 30 to 120 years of imprisonment and a fine of $375,000.00 imposed on him following conviction of insurance fraud, conspiracy to practice osteopathic medicine without a license, practicing osteopathic medicine without a license, delivery of Vicodin, delivery of Xanax, delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance, prescribing controlled substances contrary to the requirements of law and conspiracy to prescribe controlled substances contrary to the requirements of law.
2 The conviction followed a two-week jury trial; followed by sentencing and a direct appeal to this court. In his Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) Opinion, the Honorable David W. Heckler found the background as follows. The history is based on the trial record.
BACKGROUND
At trial, the Commonwealth presented evidence that established the following: during the year 2000, appellant practiced osteopathic medicine from an office located at 3554 Hulmeville Road, Suite 102, Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Ronald Hyman was a pharmacist for Masterson's Pharmacy in Philadelphia, approximately thirty miles away from appellant's office. During the summer of 2000, Mr. Hyman placed telephone calls to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Board of Pharmacy, and the Board of Medicine regarding what Mr. Hyman considered to be alarming prescriptions for OxyContin and Xanax written by appellant. Due to the addictive nature of both Xanax and OxyContin, Mr. Hyman had telephoned appellant to verify the accuracy of the prescriptions and the dosages. Mr. Hyman was told by appellant that the doses were correct, and that if Mr. Hyman did not wish to fill the prescriptions as written, he could simply refuse to fill the prescriptions and appellant would direct his patients to another pharmacy. Based on the information he had received from the manufacturer of OxyContin through literature and seminars, Mr. Hyman began refusing to fill the prescriptions because he felt the doses prescribed by appellant were too high and the prescriptions provided for refills too frequently. In response to complaints from Mr. Hyman and other pharmacies in the Philadelphia and Bucks Counties, the Diversion Investigation Unit of the Bureau of Narcotics for the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General began an investigation of appellant's medical practice in August of 2000.
On August 7, 2000, an Order to Show Cause was filed by the Pennsylvania State Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. Appellant was accused therein of practicing without professional liability insurance for the period from March 1, 1998, through March 31, 2000. Pennsylvania state law requires that all practicing physicians maintain professional liability insurance coverage. The Order to Show Cause provided that upon appellant's response, a hearing would be scheduled before the Bureau of Occupational Affairs at which appellant could present evidence in response to the allegation. Appellant was served by first class mail at his office address. The notice served upon appellant advised that he had thirty days to respond or a default judgment would be entered against him. There is no record of any response on behalf of appellant. On September 26, 2000, a motion was made to enter a default judgment against appellant. After finding that appellant had not paid his professional liability insurance for the aforementioned two-year period, on November 2, 2000, the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs issued an indefinite suspension of appellant's medical license. Appellant's indefinite suspension went into effect on November 23, 2000. The Bureau of Professional and Occupation Affairs issued two letters informing appellant
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