Pittsburgh (AP) -- The pain clinic tucked into the corner of alow-slung suburban strip mall was an open secret.

Patients would travel hundreds of miles to see Dr. AndrzejZielke, eager for what authorities described as a steady flow ofprescriptions for the kinds of powerful painkillers that ushered the nation into itsworst drug crisis in history.

At least one of Zielke's patients died of an overdose, andprosecutors say others became so dependent on oxycodone and otheropioids they would crowd his office, sometimes sleeping in thewaiting room. Some peddled their pills near tumble-down storefrontsand on blighted street corners in addiction-plagued parts ofAllegheny County, where deaths by drug overdose reached recordlevels last year.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Core and Group Health
Consumer Driven Health Care
Health Care Reform
Cost-Containment