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Doctor Charged With Murder Over OxyContin

July 30,2001

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A doctor was charged with murder for allegedly improperly prescribing the painkiller OxyContin to a man who died of a drug overdose.

Denis Deonarine, 56, also was charged with racketeering and drug trafficking in an 80-count indictment issued Friday. The indictment was sealed because other defendants remained at large, prosecutor Barry Krischer said.

Deonarine was jailed pending a bail hearing. He was charged in May with related Medicaid fraud charges. His office manager also has been charged with fraud, trafficking and racketeering.

The first-degree murder charge involved the death of Michael Labzda, 21, who died Feb. 8.

Richard Lubin, Deonarine's lawyer, said the murder charges were inappropriate because alcohol and other drugs were found in Labzda's body.

"I'm very surprised the state chose to charge Dr. Deonarine with a drug overdose," he said. "I don't know what their thinking is."

A handful of other doctors around the nation have been charged with manslaughter in similar cases. But Deonarine could face either the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted on the first-degree murder charge.

"It is a new concept," prosecutor Barbara Burns said. OxyContin is a slow-release narcotic painkiller intended to relieve moderate to severe chronic pain from such problems as arthritis and cancer. One pill is designed to last 12 hours, but those who abuse OxyContin usually crush pills and then snort or inject them to unlock a quick, heroin-like high.

OxyContin has been linked to overdose deaths across the county. Florida has recorded 152 deaths attributed to overdoses of OxyContin and other morphine-like prescription drugs in the last six months of 2000, a report by the state's medical examiners shows.

Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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