Ronald J. Heromin, M.D. & Tampa Bay Wellness Centre
I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but in the last few months a new pain management clinic was opened in the strip mall behind our house called Tampa Bay Wellness Centre. For two and a half years, we’ve had no problems with the strip mall that is just over our fence. But in the last few months, that has changed.
On January 31st, a Saturday, Debi and I woke up to the sounds of chainsaws. I didn’t immediately realize from where the sound was coming, but soon realized that someone was cutting down all of the trees on the other side of our fence by the strip mall. No one had approached us about doing this. What’s more, the previous owner of the house who put in our fence, didn’t actually put the fence on our property line, but instead put the fence about 2 to 3 feet away from our property line because he didn’t want to cut down those trees. Ergo, the trees they were cutting down were actually at least partially our trees, on our property. I went out, stuck my head over the fence, and got the attention of the woman who was cutting down the trees. I mentioned to her that the trees were on my property, which immediately gave her pause. She was hired to cut them down and was told that they were on the property of the owner of the strip mall. She immediately went to talk to the person who had hired her to let him know that this was sketchy. He and another business owner then came around to my place where I was out talking with my neighbor, to apologize and try to smooth things over. A little late – the trees were already cut down!
Over the last month, with the trees gone, we’ve had several instances where people have been walking around in the alley behind the strip mall at 11:00 pm talking loudly or yelling. I went out there a couple of weeks ago after a guy had been talking loudly for over an hour at 11:00 pm and popped my head over our fence. I don’t know who he was, but he didn’t wait around – he dropped his phone and ran.
One other time over the past week there have been people talking loudly in the alley at night. But last night, at 11:00 pm, it was really getting on my nerves. Then a car alarm went off, waking up Toren. I’d had enough. I went into our backyard to see what was going on, but by that time no one was back there, despite there still being 6 or 7 cars in the alley. So I decided I’d walk around to the front of the strip mall to see what was going on.
I’m probably too naive to realize that this was very risky, but I was pissed. As I walked around the corner to the strip mall and started to head down the sidewalk, I started noticing a group of people hanging out in front of the Tampa Bay Wellness Centre. As I got closer, I realized these people were not really the kind of people I’d want to run into late at night – they were wearing tattered clothing, looked unkempt, looked to be in relatively poor health, had various scars, and looked, well, mean. Having no experience with drug dealers, I can’t say for certain that’s what they looked like, but that was the initial impression I received – white, scummy, drug dealers. There were about 6 or 7 of them standing in front of the Tampa Bay Wellness Centre. When I got to the door of this “clinic”, I started to ask the people sitting around outside if it was open, but then one of them opened the door and walked in, so I followed him. Inside, at 11:00pm on a Friday night, there were at least another 15 to 20 people sitting around a makeshift clinic, watching TV. They looked just like the people outside.
Cut into one wall was a window where I assumed the staff were. I waited while the guy who entered before me asked if he was up yet. Then it was my turn. In the little, unfinished, and really scary looking office, there were three people I could see – a young woman, a young man, and Gloria, a middle-aged woman. I started right in on them, complaining about the noise and wanting to know what was going on. Gloria was the one who piped up and denied that it was them, claiming that they didn’t let anyone back in the alley. BS! I mentioned the car alarm and told them I have an 8-month old son. She apologized, then said that they were going to be leaving in a week. When I asked why, the young man said, “Does it matter? You don’t want us to leave?” To which I responded, “No, you leaving would be great, but it just looks funny for you to set up shop for a month or two then leave.” Anyway, I ended up getting the card of the Doctor who supposedly runs the clinic and Gloria’s name, then warned her that I would start phoning in noise complaints to the police every time I heard them from now on. At this, one of the patrons said, “If you have a problem with this place, you can go talk to the police officer who is watching it from his cruiser in the parking lot over.” I told him I just might.
I walked out to glares from some of the patrons, then headed back the way I came. I did notice as I walked that there was a Tampa Police cruiser in the parking lot opposite the clinic as the patron said, so I went over to the cruiser to see what was going on. I think he was a bit wary at first, but when I introduced myself and explained what I was doing, he relaxed and we started to chat. He was, in fact, observing this “clinic” because the police are fairly confident that what is happening is that the doctor is simply writing whatever patients walk in prescriptions for narcotics and painkillers. My neighbor and I had guessed this was what was happening, but to hear the police confirm that it was the suspicion was surprising, especially because the officer said there was nothing they could do at this point. That annoyed me because the local police recently busted a bunch of people in the Tampa area doing just this. As we talked, the officer was amazed to hear that I had gone into the clinic. He was also amazed that it was open at 11:00pm on a Friday night. He kept saying, “I don’t know of any doctor’s offices that are open that late at night.” Anyway, the officer was nice and did confirm that I could call in noise complaints after 11:00 whenever they occurred. So, I’ll be doing that.
But I also decided to look into things a bit more this morning. Here’s what my internet sleuthing has discovered:
Ronald J. Heromin
Ronald J. Heromin is the doctor who is running the Tampa Bay Wellness Centre. He is licensed in Florida. However, he was been disciplined by the Florida Board of Medicine, on April 4, 2009, for beginning to operate on a patient’s wrong leg. (You can see a copy of the discipline decision here as well.) Unfortunately that only ended in a $5,000 fine. Dr. Heromin has also recently filed for bankruptcy with close to $150,000 in debt. This sounds like the perfect recipe for a doctor to start slumming it, doling out prescriptions for narcotics. I, of course, cannot say that Dr. Heromin is doing that, but his clinic is certainly sketchy. The clientèle were sketchy. And staying open late at night on a Friday doling out prescriptions in a clinic that, from my quick purview, doesn’t even have a room to see patients seems really, really sketchy. So, I don’t know what Dr. Heromin is doing, but it’s not above reproach.
Because I don’t want to keep the card I took that night any longer, I’m posting all of the information it included here:
Tampa Bay Wellness Centre
Office of Ronald J. Heromin, M.D.
1943 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Tampa, FL 33607
Phone: (813) 374-8950
Fax: (813) 374-8949
Ettinberg Properties, LLC & Haim Goldenberg
The owner of the strip mall where Tampa Bay Wellness Centre is located is Haim Goldenberg, the registered agent of Ettinberg Properties, LLC. Here’s the property tax information on the property, which says it is worth $1.4 million. And here’s the corporate information on Ettinberg Properties, LLC. Apparently he’s living quite well – here’s a picture of his home courtesy of Google Maps. It’s 2009 market value is $688,764.00. He’s also the registered agent of Universal Auto Leasing Inc. at 8542 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33614, which looks like some strange car rental or leasing location. I’d laugh if this also happens to be Haim Goldenberg, the famed Israeli mentalist, but I doubt it.
This whole ordeal has hurt me plenty I have back pain due to a car accident and I found a place that will give me the medication that I need to take not to sell and i finally save up enough money to get it but they won’t take an old mri I spent my last $300 on a mri from the trailer out back and since this raid I can’t even find out where my medical records are or who read my mri. I feel this crackdown has directly hurt me I am out my last 300 I can’t get my records and now can’t afford another mri or prescription and I have never broken any law. It may not seem like such a lofty problem such as health care reform, DEA investigations, or political kickbacks from pill manufacturers but this does hurt the individual patient. If anyone has any information on the GE mobile MRI that was out back please post it.
frustrateundermedicated,
I’m sorry that you’re being negatively affected by this. But I think your case perfectly illustrates the problem here. Tampa Bay Wellness Center was clearly not “legitimate.” If they were, you wouldn’t be in this situation. If they were legitimate, they would not have been raided. And, you’d still have your MRIs. They also clearly didn’t track medical records as they just cared about the money, not the patients.
I hate to use your case to illustrate the problems with these illegitimate pain clinics, but that’s exactly what has happened. The few legitimate patients they had are now screwed.
The truck was apparently part of “Macron Medical Technologies,” 2129 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., another property owned and operated by Mark Fernandez (like Tampa Bay Wellness Center and VIP Pharmacy) and another property “raided,” as told in the news reports, and shut down by the DEA. If you needed to acquire your MRI from this location in order to procure medication, you most likely do not need such medications, and your health would truly be best served by staying away from them. The MRI unit was well-known for making certain adjustments to results, allowing the staff inside to prescribe massive amounts of Schedule II narcotics to all comers. Macron Medical Technologies does not offer any correlative imagery whatsoever to authenticate their MRI process to actual professionals.
Your results may never have been physically produced, depending on the timing, or perhaps they are in an evidence locker somewhere. Either way, I would not anticipate recouping your $300 loss. Maybe you should contact TPD about the matter. If you are truly in need of treatment, please, seek out a professional doctor who will actually engage you in your care, and not a pill mill. My last visit to Tampa Bay Wellness Center did not even actually include a doctors’ visit. I was handed prescriptions written out by a doctor whom I have never met. That was my last visit to the clinic–I had originally sought open-mindedness, not sleaziness. If you have proper documentation and a clean criminal record, dealing with that kind of dirt is completely unnecessary. Since then I have found a wonderful, clean doctor who is intent on keeping me healthy with as little cost to my wallet and body as possible. If your “old” MRI indicates a serious, painful condition, most LEGITIMATE doctors will accept that for the first visit. When you go to a place like Tampa Bay Wellness Center, you get sent to the truck. Seriously people, how many Ph.D.-level professionals do you know that choose to work out of semis? Use your brains, please.
When you are willing to engage in the fraud, price gouging, and wait-times associated with treatment at Tampa Bay Wellness Center in order to receive narcotic prescriptions, it opens a very simple psychological interpretation of drug-seeking behavior. The prescriptions that came out of that facility went far, far above and beyond most individuals’ pain management needs, even among opiod-tolerant individuals. If you are a legitimate patient for pain management, please, help advance the interests of others in your boat and the interests of your own well-being by seeing a doctor who actually has a role to play in your treatment and whose goal is to help you live a life free of pain and addiction. If you do not need pain management, please, for the sake of your own health and for the health of those who DO suffer from severe pain, do not allow yourself to become an addict at the hands of money-grubbing fiends like these. You do yourself, the system, and most of all those who suffer a great disservice. If you are not suffering, if you are not abusing, and if you are not selling, how exactly can oxycodone/OxyContin make your life better? The short answer is that it can’t.
HenryTudor,
Thanks for the well-written comment.
Any suggestions for legitimate doctors people like “frustrateundermedicated” can visit?”
I highly recommend Dr. VanDercar on Fletcher Avenue. He is highly qualified and formerly ran pain management at Tampa General Hospital. The website for his clinic is at http://www.tampapainclinic.com/. Furthermore, the first visit is only $125, much less than many other clinics (most charge $250-$300, cash only, for the initial visit). I have heard that Tampa Pain Relief on Habana is also a quality clinic but I know much less about it. Shiloh Medical Group (http://www.shilohhealth.com/) on North Dale Mabry run a very nice clinic as well. Each of these locations do a requisite urinary analysis on new patients, a practice which was conveniently lacking at Tampa Bay Wellness Center.
There are other options all over Tampa. If you truly need pain management, invest some time in yourself and do some research. As I stated earlier, your doctor’s concern should be to keep your life free of pain AND addiction; they are not mutually exclusive. If a doctor isn’t concerned about the tolerance and dependence dimensions of pain management, they simply aren’t doing their job.
ur mri was sent to a place called bayview radiology thats where my friend got hers from so i would try that sorry u had to loose so much money my friend did too and she has cancer of the stomache but now she goes to a cancer ceter so thins worked out 4 her@frustrateundermedicated
I never thought the corruption was that substantial I could tell by my visit to the property that it seemed some people were there strictly to abuse the system. However when I looked around I saw mostly people that looked like they themselves fell into the same trap many others from all stations of life have, becoming addicted to a substance that was prescribed to you by a Doctor. I thank those who left the comments about my situation for there suggestions and hope to face my own personal demons. It just troubles me that after reading some of the comments left on this blog that so many would not only lack the compassion for people struggling with there addiction but go as far to judge them. I am not the most christian person in the world but I heard somewhere that only God should judge so I would encourage anyone pointing any fingers at Doctors, Nurses, politicians, the people who run that clinic, the patients, or even those who it seems are abusing the system that we all have our vices and our imperfections and time spent arguing over others choices in life is probably better spent on self examination. I will still hold to the hope that this place wasn’t 100% fraudulant and someone can give me the name of a doctor that was reading these MRI’s especially since it seems that only 1 person was arrested.
There are a lot of rogue pain clinics out there. Some doctors are in financial problems and will lower their standard to make quick money. A lot of investors are opening pain clinics. This people are not medical professional and their motivation is money not ethics. My advise is to research the clinic and the owners and make sure that they are medical professionals. Check the department of health website and make sure that the doctor has no disciplinary issues or been to a drug treatment program. I will suggest to you to see Dr Luis Merced at 11531 N. 56th St, Temple Terrace, Phone number 813-549-7465. Their initial visit is $100 with coupon. They do not take out of state patients. You may also try Dr Vandecar on Fletcher. Good Luck.
They made a big stink like they made some huge bust but only one person got arrested out of these three locations and he is not the owner or doc so if there was some big illegal drug dealing going on how come no one was arrested everyone keeps saying they got videos and the dea was watching the place there’s this blog but some how the fernandez fam and heromin are still out and probably operating so all the tv hype is just that hype make the public think there tax dollars are hard at work when really the cops are pissin in the wind selling the public some super hero image and really aint doing shit but hey as long as ryan gets his trees fixed and toren can sleep its all good. Just seems funny no major arrests those agents wasted all that time and money and arrested one guy from vip great job boys in blue what an impact!!
Big Daddy Lo- They are not even close to being done. We have all worked so hard on this, and take it from me, as I am personally involved. This will not stop until all is arrested. The arresting procedure has many steps, but the prosecuting steps are more and more detailed if we want these charges to carry any weight when the time for sentencing comes. Dr. Ronald Heromin, the VIP staff or Marc and his entire family (all the medical and office staff at 2137) are not the only ones being looked at. This is a mulit county investigation.
@big daddy lo
I hate to admit it, big daddy lo, but you have a point. One arrest out of the raid seems quite underwhelming. And it seems like now that the place is shut down (more likely just moved somewhere else), the media hype is gone and nothing is going to come of this. I have heard from various sources that more arrests may be forthcoming as it takes time to build these cases, but I’ll believe that when I see it. Until then, the impression you get is that maybe, just maybe, Tampa Bay Wellness Centre, VIP Pharmacy, and Macron Medical were all working within the law. I’d hate to think that’s the case, but maybe it’s true. If so, the law definitely needs to be changed.
Oh, and big daddy lo, I haven’t been reimbursed for my destroyed trees or fence. I’d sure like to be, but ever since the raid, no one has wanted to talk to me about it. I guess now that the money isn’t flowing in, no one is willing to pay for the damage done to my property. But I will say this – things are a lot more quite around here, like they used to be. And, yes, Toren can sleep again at night. Are you suggesting that’s a bad thing?
Heromin get him
???? Heromin get him??? Get Who? Are you threating someone? If so grow some balls and says what you want…
@frustrateundermedicated
I THINK YOU HAVE A GOOD POINT NO ONE SHOULD JUDGE ….PAIN IS SOMETHING SOME CAN TAKE AND OTHER CAN’T IT MIGHT BE CONTROL BY SOME AND MIGHT TAKE ALITTLE MORE TO CONTROL FOR OTHERS YOU DON’T KNOW HOW ANYONE FELL CAUSE YOU DO NOT WALK IN THEIR SHOES AND FELL THEIR PAIN SO MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND LIVE AND LET LIVE….
Heromin is working out of a semi that way he should be locked up and his lisence removed !!!!! ????? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…So where is dr. H now? last I heard he moved cities….
I wish I knew. I wouldn’t be surprised if he moved cities. It would make sense given his reputation here in Tampa.
Everytime a pill popper gets busted by the police Dr Heromins gets out of it by saying the scrips fraudulent
@Emmanuel
Where do you get these coupons? thanks in advance for any info.
Hello I have some information for those of you that were going to Dr. Heroin in tampa he has moved to Hope for Life Wellness Center in Miami fla 6095 NW 72nd Avee Miami fl 33166 305-885-1723 hopeforlifewellness@yahoo.com..I was reffered by a friend to gothere and they took my money 300.00 first visit and accused me of being an IV drug user because I have scars on my arms froma biopsy. They were going to write me 275 oxycodones, 120 15mg oxycodoes and 120 dilated and 90 2mg zanex..yes more meds than I have ever had in my entire life…but…since my scars they told me to bring my records from the hospital where I had my biopsy to prove my scars from IV’s and biopsy’s and i did so….they still took my money and did not write me anything..I have lupus and I am in alot of pain and very upset that I did not get my money back..now they want a psciatric evaluation and letter stating I can take pain meds I have never used IV drug use and I offered to take a drug test this was bullshit and people are coming in stating they they buy drugs on the street and get their perscription but me who had legitimate problems and reasons well they just took my money I wish I knew how to report this doctor..anyone who can give me advice please help…. thank you heather
Heather, there are people to whom you can complain. You can file a complaint with the Florida Department of Health: . You can also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your area. And you can call the local police and tell them what happened.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/17/170855/feds-tampa-pharmacy-led-us-in-dispensing-painkille/news-breaking/
@HenryTudor
Dr. Vandecar is great yes,but you don’t know what your saying.Please get professional advice before trying to give it out like it is.My first visit there once they realized I was legitimte and needed pain meds to better my life,they told me”opiod-pain meds WILL make you dependent.Just like a diabetic takes insulin because they need/have to have to function,they depend on insulin and their diet.It’s similar(and there are numerous other examples).In essence once started you will depend on your meds,and have to watch how you live and take care of yourself,etc.”
Dr.Heromin has not got out of anything a lot of his script pads were stolen by the fernandez family and mark beltran the fernandez’s have already been arrested for all that illegal crap they were doing 1 of those was writing out and signing scripts for themselves and patients and (any female who gave lil louie oral sex in the bathroom at both tampa bay wellness center and superior injury clinic which has also been raided and shut down) the fernandez’s had their houses, cars, etc seized b/c it was bought w/ all the money they made illegally they caught mark beltran at the airport trying to run w/ a bag full of a few million $ dr. heromin is a state witness against them that is how he got out of some of his trouble but dea is on his ass and he has been arrested more than once in miami and he may not be in jail right now but eventually he’ll have his day in court no charges have been dropped against him its just a process it took them months to finally make the arrests on mark beltran and the fernandez family n others involved, and trust if heromin is still working as a doctor in a pain clinic he’s doing it for the state to help them take down other clinics and get himself out of town i know for a fact because he approached me and my ex about opening a clinic w/ him before he left for miami and he was all apologies for helping the fernandez family rob us and calling me slut and what ever other nasty crap came out of that discusting man’s mouth he wanted us to put things in our name trust him again just so he could bring heat down on us for illegal stuff he would actually be doing he is just setting clinics up to try and save his own ass but hes not out of and isnt going to get out of the trouble hes in thats a fact its just a process aside the fact the dea is trying to use him as much as they can. anybody who goes to dr. heromin is just begging to be arrested
So, I have been reading this blog for months now. Mostly because members of my family see Dr. Heromin. At first I was worried, but after some conversation and research I have realized there are much worse places my family could be going. Both are drug tested and questioned each visit. Both have legitimate illnesses and honestly need this medication. They are not over medicated by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they recieve less medication form Dr. Heromin than they were at their previous clinics. I know this to be true because I asked them to show me their bottles. I don’t know if everyone here understands how lupus and severe arthritis works, but it’s not easy. Everyone can complain about this and that, but the truth is not everything in life works how we wish it would. Sure some places seem like places we would not ever be caught, but just because one is seen there does not mean one wishes to be seen there. I know how the “pill mills” work and honestly despise it. In the long run it is going to cost a lot of good people said medication. That is just the long and the short of it. Sure a lot of people are obtaining medication illegally, however I just don’t feel Dr. Heromin would ever be involed. He is just honestly to strict.
My husband and I are FL residents and were referred to Dr. Heromin from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. My husband became a patient of Dr. Heromin and underwent a right knee replacement at Englewood Community Hospital, Englewood, FL. He monitored my husband for quite awhile and then I needed a bi-lateral knee replacement the end of August 2002. He performed an excellent job I thought, had six weeks of physical therapy at home and progressed well. I was back to volunteering at the hospital post-op of 8 weeks. Unfortunately while I was at the hospital working he was brought in by ambulance in critical condition due to an automobile accident. I was his fault. He did return to his office and the hospital shortly but to our knowledge was popping pain killers. I used to see him walking down the hospital corridors slumped sideways. His voice was slurred but still he understood my asking him a question. I had tripped and fallen in the Town Center Mall, fractured my right wrist and fortunately the cast was set well. Dr. Heromin had a Physician Assistant working with him by the name of Mark Winer. The two of them worked together for quite a few years. Mark suffered a close call in an automobile accident and was in the Intensive Care Unit for one week and I of course working with this department did not know he was a patient there. He came through his physical therapy, Dr. Heromin wanted him back to work right away and Mark decided to call it quits and is now working wherever he is needed. I believe he is working out of Ft. Myers, FL. He is a good friend of ours as he was in surgery during my procedure. Dr. Heromin in our opinion is a very intelligent surgeon and I was shocked to see what has happened to this man. Our hearts go out to him as he was not only our physician-surgeon but a good friend at the time. We are so sorry.
Mel & Mary Ann – Port Charlotte, FL
Wow. Incredible story.
I used to see Dr.H in Miami and I had to go to Indiana because my Grandmother had Lung cancer and Hospice had to come in to her home because she was in he last stage of her life.In the meantime I had to be gone and missed my appointment with Dr.H whom has been a family friend for many years before I ever began to see him for my MS. So I call to make an appointment and they tell me he is no longer with them. Now what happened in the one month that I was gone that now my Dr. is now gone again. Whats going on with him? Does anyone know?
This is just an fyi for anyone that is reading this blog since I just came across it. First of all, do not trust anything on this blog as to who you need to go and see. The first person you should go and see for a pain management clinic is you PHARMACIST. I really don’t care what anywone else says and I’ll give you a good reason why. The pharmacist is the one who is going to fill the medication, so if you go to someone that they don’t trust, you just wasted your money. After that, you check with your primary physician for a referral. When the two of these people are in agreement, then you have a great situation. Next, know your situation and medications. Check out http://www.guideline.gov for your disease state and how it’s supposed to be treated. Pain is pain, but not all pain is the same and not all of it is treated the same. Every time you’re given a medication, your physician should give you a reason why it’s being used, how to take it, what to expect from it, and how long you are supposed to be on it. If it’s an accident that is causing your pain, it’s supposed to get better so you get off of it. Goals need to be established at the beginning and followed through out. Pain scales are the last thing that your dr should be asking you. Red flags for any pharmacist are the standard coctail of roxicodone 15 or 30mg, xanax 2mg, and soma 350mg. If this is your coctail, then you’re going to have problems filling it. If you are on this combo, then talk to your doctor about changing your treatment. If they have issues with that, then you’re not with a valid doctor. There are no studies that show that a muscle relaxer (soma) is warranted for more than 2-3 weeks. This is a temporary medication whose only use is to continue to fuel addiction so get off of it. Even the non addictive ones should only be used short term as there is no medical proof (ie. journals, case reports, or studies) that using it beyond those 2-3 weeks shows any additional improvement. Xanax was also supposed to be a temporary medication. Actually, your SSRI’s like zoloft, celexa, and paxil are better for anxiety than xanax is, especially because it’s once a day as a preventative for anxiety and not a reflex medication plus it’s a lot cheaper and has no addictive or abuse qualities. And now on to roxicodone. If you ever hit a strength of 30 mg you’re always going to be looked upon with scrutiny. This medication was only created to deal with the pain related to cancer. If you don’t have cancer or some other inoperable disease that is terminal, then why were you started on anything other than percocet 5/325? The combination with the tylenol decreases the amount of oxycodone that is needed to produce the same effect. Check with any emergency room doctor and they’ll tell you that they don’t prescribe anything more than the percocet 5/325 for someone that just broke a bone. I’m not saying that you’re a drug addict because you’re on roxicodone 30mg. I’m saying that you’ve been given the medication and your body has become accustomed to it being there so you’ve become dependant/reliant upon it being around. If you’re taking more than 4 per day for sure, you’re not being treated appropriately. The medication lasts 4 hours in the body. That’s 16 of the 24 hours in the day. You are supposed to have a period where you are off the medication because if you aren’t, you don’t know that you’re in pain and don’t think that anything needs to be addressed. Pain is the body’s way of saying that something needs to be fixed so help me. By taking these medications, you’re just masking it and ignoring it and it will never get better. Any doctor that deals with this medication knows (or should I say should know) that when you change the medication to a different one, you start off by converting it to the equivelant dose of the new medication and then cut the dosage in HALF. This is because your body will compensate for it and you’ll be down to a lot less medication than before. Can you believe it? Taking a lot less medication and having the same effect. OMG, WTF? Why didn’t my doctor tell me this? If they haven’t tried to get you to a different medication or strength or extended release form, etc., then they’re only in it for the money. There are clinics out there that don’t even prescribe oxycodone for pain. And their patients do very well without it because it’s never a required medication. Until you fix the problem, it’s never going to go away. This medication was intended for the problems that cannot be fixed, like inoperable cancer. If you’ve read this far, then congrats. Now, I want to ask you the question “What are you doing to make yourself feel less pain?” The opioids do one thing and that is to fake the brain into thinking that you aren’t hurt by not letting the signal get to the brain. If you don’t fix the problem, then yeah, you’re always going to be on it. 90+% of low back pain will resolve within 30 to 60 days as long as you continue to use it. If you don’t use it, then it will atrophy (break down) and will become more painful. Anyone who has pain and doesn’t go for physical therapy plus other aid in helping their pain because their doctor doesn’t tell them to needs to find a new doctor. Oh, and if you smoke, then stop NOW. If you smoke while taking the pain medications, it’s an inhibitor which means that your body won’t be using what you get to it’s full extent which also will keep increasing your dosage AND, it causes the body more pain too. And, if your pain management clinic doesn’t drug test and doesn’t have a pain contract, then it’s not worth paying for your appointment. Those clinics and physicians that are most trusted do all of the above at a minimum in addition to a manditory physical exam at each visit. The other very important thing about filling a prescription for any of these doctors is that they are local. I don’t have a reason to fill a prescription for someone who lives in ohio or kentucky, nor do I have a reason to fill for a doctor 50 miles away from me. If you’ve come this far from your doctor, it means that you’ve checked everyone in between there and me and have been turned away at all those places. Why do you think that I’ll do it when they wouldn’t ? And as for the offices that were discussed in this thread, I will say that I don’t fill prescriptions for the silly shiloh group, john mubang, quality care medical clinic, superior medical, bartlet/brad storey or any office he’s associated with, heromin, padgets clinic, and many others. I hope that this helped.
In reading this BLOG I find a whole lot of people that are doing nothing more than inhance the state of florida to continue to force 85% of our pharmacies in florida to rase the cost of these meds furthermore to the point where if you are not selling ,diverting in some way that it is nearly impossable for one to afford without INS. ? I find that the same meds ,strenth and quantiy several states away for far less than the outrages prices florida pharmacies are charging? Don’t these guys make plenty of money allready ? and WHO’s side are they on refusing to accept ins to fill certain meds ? Who’s really behind this conspearacy seams like our local goverments forceing the hands of our pharmacies too me? Whats your opinon ?
@Angry
why not worry about your own life and stay out of everyone else business. I mean some of us actually have chronic pain and cannot walk without our meds Why is it fair that I have to hurt and cannot afford these big time drs and when i found someone to help me you and the same trashy people like yourself had to take it upon yourself to poke and poke and cause problems When I get up and drag myself to the bathroom I think about people like you that cant mind your own business and keep that damn nose out of another persons life I guess you’re bored and actually have no life but one day I hope you feel the same shame I do because of a physical condition I was born with that you know how the pain is so bad that you honestly black out and have seizures I hope you know what it is to not be able to walk and be looked at like a circus act and hurt so bad that you feel like ending it all. You only think you know the answers to these problems yes that do occur but not all of us are abusing pain meds by selling them or whatever else they do. I desparately hope you feel my pain one day and if there is a god in heaven, you will be judged for the ugly soul you have without heart and compassion for another person’s feelings. I hope you feel the same hate I feel for you and those like you that cant keep yourself out of others affairs and I really wish the same despair you and your twisted kind have caused me.
@Pharmacist
To Pharmacist: Hope you get notified of my comment. You make so much sense, feel like I’m finally reading a post from someone who knows what they’re talking about! I am severely disabled and, like many patients in FL, have been referred out to “pain management” by both my primary and specialists because of the limitations on prescribing controlled substances. I am so naive-have been completely blindsided by this, don’t search online, didn’t even know there was such an enormous problem until I read about it in the Herald.
I’m hoping you could guide me to find the following information: Is there any way to find out which pain management centers are flagged by the pharmaceutical industry? You mentioned several you won’t fill for–(there are some legitimate doctors, right?) I’m guessing it’s up to the pharmacy, but surely the large retail stores have some way of tracking this? I’ve had my medication filled by CVS for 7 years, prescribed by my primary and now, with one month’s supply left, I really don’t know how to proceed. I feel like such a fool having gotten into this mess, I had never heard of Oxycontin or oxycodone before my doctor prescribed it! None of the pain management centers I’ve found so far take insurance, but they assure me that my CVS will fill there prescriptions—any advice you may provide would be most helpful – afraid to post my email online so will check back for your response (or anyone else, especially a professional in the business or a true chronic pain patient who has found a legitimate doctor who knows what he/she is doing and you could share this information — I’m in Miami/S.E. Broward, cannot drive, have to rely on family for transportation. thank you, will be watching for a response…
I’m not sure if anyone is still reading this blog anymore, but it will likely please many of you, including Ryan, to know that Ronald Heromin was finally arrested by the DEA on October 29th.
Very cool! Thanks for the update!
No problem. It is also worth noting that the Florida Board of Medicine still has not suspended his license to practice medicine in the state of Florida. Even though he is in federal custody, I am still seeing his “prescriptions” (written both before and after his arrest) coming into the pharmacy where I work.
Just found a news article mentioning Ronald Heromin’s arrest:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/health/doctors-facing-federal-prescription-drug-charges-still-free-to-practice/1203218
Apparently he’s out, but can’t prescribe narcotics anymore.
Ugh. I can’t believe they let him out. The DEA website is of no use to other healthcare professionals because I have yet to see anyplace there where one can determine if a doctor’s DEA number is still valid or under some sort of restriction. The Florida Department of Health has a nice, easy-to-use website on which one can look up the Florida license for all sorts of healthcare professionals. As a pharmacist, when I get a prescription, I look up the doctor’s license on that website. If his or her license is clear and active, I usually will just go ahead and fill the prescription unless there is some problem with the prescription itself. The Florida Board of Medicine can easily get the evidence it needs to suspend Heromin’s Florida medical license. They periodically perform routine checks of every medical office in the state. Since the pill mill crackdown has begun, they have been heavily scrutinizing patient records during these routine checks. They will issue an emergency suspension order for a doctor’s license if they see that the doctor is prescribing narcotics without performing the proper physical examination/laboratory tests on the patient. Soon after Heromin was arrested, the Florida Board of Medicine suspended the medical license of Ramiro Abaunza, a doctor whom had shared an office with Heromin at the Hope for Life Wellness Center, for that very reason. Incidentally, Heromin left that office within the last 8 months or so and set up his own office called the St. Mary’s Medical Institute also in Miami. I have found the Hope for Life Wellness Center as a registered pain management clinic on the Florida Department of Health website, but I have been unable to find the St. Mary’s Medical Institute on there at all. Heromin also stopped seeing out-of-state patients, but I think that a doctor in Miami seeing patients from Pensacola might as well be seeing patients from out-of-state. I hope the DEA has the evidence it needs to convict him and put him away when this case goes to trial. However, even if they don’t, I am never filling a prescription, regardless of medication, written by Heromin ever again.
Yeah, I’m amazed he is still practicing. Oversight of medical doctors in Florida is really quite disturbing.
Thank you for the insights!