Suspended NKY doctor found dead in son’s home

[theguru]

FLORENCE – A Northern Kentucky doctor who had his medical license suspended as federal authorities investigated the overdose deaths of 14 of his patients was found dead Wednesday at his son’s home.

 

The death of Dr. Gary Shearer, 69, of Union remained under investigation Wednesday, but foul play wasn’t suspected, Boone County Coroner Douglas Stith said.

 

Shearer’s death came during the same week the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure was holding a hearing to determine whether to reinstate Shearer’s license.

 

Shearer’s attorney, Bob Sanders, declined to comment Wednesday evening but he previously told The Enquirer that his client was a target of a witch hunt by law enforcement.

 

“I think we are living at a time of hysteria over prescription drug abuse where a lot of good doctors are going to get drug into the controversy,” Sanders previously said.

 

Suspended doctor found dead in son?s home

[theguru]

Very sad...

[75center]

Not sure I can call it sad, given 14 deaths in 3 years.

[spindoc]

Not sure I can call it sad, given 14 deaths in 3 years.

Wow. I don't know what to say to your reply. Ignorant comes to mind.

[75center]

Wow. I don't know what to say to your reply. Ignorant comes to mind.

 

No problem, there's plenty of things that make me sad. This isn't one of them. 14 lives makes me sad.

[plantmanky]

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

A couple of things to add to the conversation:

 

1) When the story about Dr. Shearer's investigation originally broke (here is an old BGP thread about it), I had a good friend and another acquaintance of mine both tell me in the days following that they knew him personally, and neither of them had anything but high praise for him and expressions of shock about the investigation.

 

2) When I was in my early years of construction, I worked in residential construction. I built quite a few houses in numerous Northern Kentucky subdivisions, and I crossed paths with more than a few seedy construction workers in that time. I remember on more than one occasion hearing people talk about the ease of obtaining prescriptions at Dr. Shearer's office. I can't speak to what method they were using to obtain them....I'm not sure if they paid him for the prescriptions or if Dr. Shearer may have been genuinely ignorant to the fact that he was being used as a source for drug abuse....but the fact remains, they knew they could get their pills through him. And if I, and uninvolved party, managed to come across that same conversation about that same person on more than one occasion, I can only question how often that same scenario was playing out with Dr. Shearer and other "patients".

[spindoc]

No problem, there's plenty of things that make me sad. This isn't one of them. 14 lives makes me sad.

 

Well, let me start by saying that there are scads of ODs a year. It's pandemic in proportion. I have no idea if this guy prescribed the pills like a pill factory and they OD'd as a direct result. But do you have any clue how many people OD on Rx meds a year? Google that one. Hell, it's very possible that I've prescribed the meds that someone has cashed their chips in on. What if the attorney for the Dr. is correct and it was a witch hunt and he's innocent of the charges? Well it's a bit too late for that to come out in the wash now isn't it? You're response is sad.

[75center]

Well, let me start by saying that there are scads of ODs a year. It's pandemic in proportion. I have no idea if this guy prescribed the pills like a pill factory and they OD'd as a direct result. But do you have any clue how many people OD on Rx meds a year? Google that one. Hell, it's very possible that I've prescribed the meds that someone has cashed their chips in on. What if the attorney for the Dr. is correct and it was a witch hunt and he's innocent of the charges? Well it's a bit too late for that to come out in the wash now isn't it? You're response is sad.

 

How many of those Dr's have their licenses' suspended? I'm going on the information available in that article. Obviously 14 in 3 years is a LOT to the board. I didn't even have CWB's post when I posted. It just reinforced my opinion that I'm simply not sad at his passing.

[spindoc]

How many of those Dr's have their licenses' suspended? I'm going on the information available in that article. Obviously 14 in 3 years is a LOT to the board. I didn't even have CWB's post when I posted. It just reinforced my opinion that I'm simply not sad at his passing.

Well, let's suffice to say that a licensing board is not nearly as thorough as you might suspect. I can attest to that first hand. I'll also say that they have no recourse from him if he was shown in a court of law to be not guilty other than to reinstate him. No recourse for lost wages, nothing. I wish once it was otherwise, because the licensing board who can act on suspicion alone, would likely be a bit more thorough if someone held them to the fire if they were indeed wrong. Too many legal loopholes.

 

And 14 ODs is a drop in the bucket to the grand total. I write for 20 percocet and you take them other than how I've prescribed and you cash in your chips and I get called to the carpet, does that make it right?

[75center]

Well, let's suffice to say that a licensing board is not nearly as thorough as you might suspect. I can attest to that first hand. I'll also say that they have no recourse from him if he was shown in a court of law to be not guilty other than to reinstate him. No recourse for lost wages, nothing. I wish once it was otherwise, because the licensing board who can act on suspicion alone, would likely be a bit more thorough if someone held them to the fire if they were indeed wrong. Too many legal loopholes.

 

And 14 ODs is a drop in the bucket to the grand total. I write for 20 percocet and you take them other than how I've prescribed and you cash in your chips and I get called to the carpet, does that make it right?

 

Since you asked and I'm waiting for several hundred pages to print out, I looked up some numbers. Latest figures showed 878,000 licensed physicians and 22,000 deaths per year from prescription OD. That makes the incidents .025 per year chance of happening, or .075 in 3 years. He had 14 or 267 times the chance of it happening. That seems to me more than just bad luck on his part to me. Obviously I could be wrong and he was simply a victim, but I like my chances of being right that he cut some corners.

[spindoc]

And what percentage of those Drs prescribe meds that one would be able to overdose on? Keep researching, your extrapolation will eventually get close.

[lawildcat]

Uh oh...big word alert!

[JDOMAX]

Case Started in 2011.

The Dr was never arrested, never indicted, never charged.

The statue of limitations was coming up.

14 overdoses is a lot. But he has a huge practice.

If you based this off percentages, where would he compare to other Doctors.

I liked him. He was not perfect.

The prescription bottle may say, take 1 every 6 hours.

How many they took is on them. How many times he prescribed them is on him.

Sad situation for everyone involved.

[akw4572]

Since you asked and I'm waiting for several hundred pages to print out, I looked up some numbers. Latest figures showed 878,000 licensed physicians and 22,000 deaths per year from prescription OD. That makes the incidents .025 per year chance of happening, or .075 in 3 years. He had 14 or 267 times the chance of it happening. That seems to me more than just bad luck on his part to me. Obviously I could be wrong and he was simply a victim, but I like my chances of being right that he cut some corners.

 

"Chances" do not convict people. Clearly that was the case here as well. I have a hard time convicting a doctor if the victim is OD'ing. Are we going to start charging Anheuser Busch when people drink and drive?