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  • The Marshall Project

    I Was a Doctor Addicted to Pills. So Were My Patients.

    “I had no idea if I would get caught. It didn't matter.”
    by Lou Ortenzio as told to Beth Schwartzapfel Jan 04, 2019 4 minutes

    I was a family doctor in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and I just wanted to help everybody. I would give them what they wanted, thinking I was helping them. I had some semblance of, They need this medicine. But they'd lose their medicine. It would fall down the sink. Or they'd lose their purse in Ohio, and then they didn't have their medicine, so it was another prescription. Word got out: I'm a nice guy, I take care of everybody. Soon, everybody seemed like they were on a controlled substance.

    Life Inside Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Related Stories

    I started my residency in Clarksburg in 1979. In 1982, I and

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