Federal and local narcotics agents raided the offices and homes of two Columbus doctors Tuesday as part of an investigation into whether they gave out illegal drug prescriptions.
Dr. Mark Lavern Burtman, who practices obstetrics and gynecology at the Urgent Care clinic on Chubby Drive, and Dr. Michael White, an anesthesiologist at The Weight Loss Clinic, also on Chubby, are the focus of two separate investigations by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Details were still sketchy today, but according to sources close to the investigation, neither of the men have been charged.
Burtman, a Chicago native, said he”s been prescribing medication to help people deal with pain, which he described as a “controversial” practice because “so many people abuse those medications.”
“You feel like you”re helping people, and the government views it as illegal,” he said following the raids, which he called a “gut-wrenching experience.”
Burtman, who has practiced medicine in Columbus since 2003, said he hasn”t made a final decision about whether to continue practicing medicine during the course of the investigation, which is ongoing.
But he did say he was “despondent” about the situation and “heartbroken” that his patients wouldn”t be able to get the help they “needed.”
“There”s a war against doctors who prevent pain and suffering,” Burtman said.
This isn”t the first time Burtman has been in hot water for writing prescriptions.
In 2008, he was suspended a year by the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure for signing prescriptions for the weight-loss drug, Phentermine.
Numerous complaints were filed against him for having nurses distribute his prescriptions, sometimes without supervision.
The board conducted an undercover investigation at one of his seminars May 15, 2008, when an investigator was given a prescription despite his being in good health.
The medical board granted a stay in his suspension after three months.
The board has not taken any disciplinary action against White.
If arrested and convicted, both men could lose their licenses.
Shortly before the raids, Burtman left his office and appointments, and drove to his one-story, brick-veneer house on 2735 Canterbury Road, where authorities found him and searched the home.
Besides that house, which is just east of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, he also owns a house at 6557 Highway 69 S.
Agents also raided his Canterbury house and searched both his cars there, staying for hours.
White is listed, in the most recent edition of the Golden Triangle Yellowbook, at 745 Crosby Lane; he was not reachable by telephone this morning.
According to investigators, evidence is still being compiled against both Burtman and White.
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