HEROIN HIGHWAY TO HELL – Junkie Doctors / Chief of Staff at VA Hospital Daniel Bochicchio pleaded guilty to stealing fentanyl from facility; faces four years in prison
MONKTON, MD. – There are many different aspects to the heroin epidemic and fatal overdoses to the spread of opioids, fentanyl and other drugs that have raged across the region and America.
The druggie crowd, who have been using and abusing marijuana, cocaine, and meth; embraced heroin with pure joy due to its cheap price.
Drug dealers, who by their very nature being unscrupulous and vile low-life scum, have cut the already cheap heroin with fentanyl to boost the power of their product and enhance the impact. Along the way, they kill off an increasing number of their customers.
The families of the druggies who have long ago resigned themselves to tolerating the parasites among them, sapping the financial assets of families for bail money, attorneys, rehab centers that either don’t rehab or their parasite family member simply quitting treatment – became shocked and despondent to find their druggie in the family now dead of an overdose.
The true victims are those who became addicted, not realizing how easy it was to overdose with the pills provided to them by their trusted doctors and when running out, turned to “contacts” in the community to give them more pills or even heroin to feed their newly acquired addiction.
Many then died.
In the first 5 weeks of 2018, 18 fatal overdoses have taken place in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
Then there are those who have not yet died of overdoses. Those who have legitimate pain from injuries and became hooked on opioids passed out like candy by doctors with the urging of the pharmaceutical industry – that blanketed society with feel-good advertising – called upon their spineless politicians to “Do Something”.
The politicians, always eager to be the first to join “the fight” of any scourge, except, of course, overspending by lawmakers, have ramped up the “the fight against opioid addiction” by, of course, spending more money.
Now, those who are in pain and have the treatment records to prove their pain, as well as their legitimate need for prescription painkillers, have to stretch out their medicine while they jump through hoops to get their painkillers as the entire system tightens up.
This series of articles examines the stories of Maryland physicians who either have been busted for being participants in “Pill Mills”, been dangerously neglectful in how they prescribe narcotics or are junkies themselves. The role of doctors in the crisis is not to be underestimated, though of course, they do not bear the blame. The druggies, however, get lumped in with the “victims” when in fact, many, if not most of them are simply getting bit in the butt by the one drug they didn’t count on as being so lethal after recreating with so many other drugs over the years.
While Maryland reels from the opioid epidemic the druggie crowd is embracing the efforts of loopy Maryland lawmakers to legalize marijuana and make it easier for a new generation to become dopers.
While Maryland reels from the opioid epidemic the druggie crowd is embracing the efforts of loopy Maryland lawmakers to legalize marijuana and make it easier for a new generation to become dopers. The money-grubbing corporations behind medical marijuana facilities ramping up in Maryland will soon be joining the ranks of other drug dealers as many marijuana cardholders line up at “clinics” to get their “medication”.
THE CASE OF DR. DANIEL BOCHICCHIO
A Maryland doctor, whose job as Chief of Medical Staff at the VA Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia ended when he was indicted on drug charges by a federal grand jury in Wheeling on June 6, 2017. He entered a guilty plea on Oct. 17, 2017.
After pleading guilty in Federal Court, Dr. Bochicchio acknowledged that an investigation by the Maryland Physicians Board had enough evidence to strip him of his license to practice medicine and consented to his summary suspension by the Board on Oct. 12, 2017.
Dr. Daniel J. Bochicchio, of Monkton, Maryland, 59, was indicted on 15 counts of “Acquiring Fentanyl by Misrepresentation, Fraud, Deception, and Subterfuge.”
Bochicchio faces up to four years’ incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
According to prosecutors and by his own admission, Dr. Bochicchio acquired fentanyl by fraudulently entering patient information at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The crimes occurred from January to March of 2017. The doctor cited extreme family problems as the excuse to steal the drugs from those allotted for treatment of patients following surgery.
Fentanyl is a drug that 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin and is usually used to lower the cost of a heroin addict’s drug habit. It is also responsible for many fatal overdoses.
A veteran of the Army National Guard, Bochicchio is board certified in anesthesiology and critical care medicine – serving 25 years as a commissioned officer in the Army National Guard. He spent 10 years on the staff of the VA Baltimore Medical Center and is a faculty member of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The HERALD-MAIL reported the following about the plea deal with prosecutors:
Felix Beltran Jr., a special agent with the U.S. Office of Inspector General, testified that his investigation probed the dispensing of more than 5,000 micrograms of fentanyl at the hospital.
The total pertaining to Wednesday’s plea agreement is 1,900 micrograms, court records said.
The prosecution agreed to not force Bochicchio to relinquish his Maryland and Pennsylvania medical licenses and certificates, and the plea agreement also doesn’t prohibit him from working in a doctor’s office or being associated with a medical practice, records said.
While the Federal prosecutors may not have wanted to force Bochicchio to give up his medical licenses, the Maryland Board of Physicians did, and he is no longer a doctor.
From Oct. 19, 2012, edition of Catholic Review
Doctor and his team make a difference in Haiti
CATHOLIC REVIEW JANUARY 19, 2012 NEWS
It’s in Dr. Dan Bochicchio’s nature to answer the call for help.
The Baltimore VA Medical Center anesthesiologist and member of the Army National Guard have helped treat thousands of people over the years.
But, watching the aftermath of the magnitude-7 earthquake that rocked Haiti Jan. 12, Bochicchio didn’t feel his instincts kick in.
“I looked at it and said that doesn’t look nice,” Bochicchio said. “I wasn’t looking at it and thinking I was going to go.”
The VA Maryland Health Care System previously enrolled Bochicchio, 52, in the disaster emergency personnel system after a request by the United States Health and Human Services Department. Bochicchio, a parishioner of Our Lady of Grace in Parkton, had experience dealing with field medicine because of his military experience.
When the federal government sent personnel to Haiti, the 52-year-old doctor got a call to assist in the effort.
“I was surprised,” Bochicchio said. “Having said that, I’m like a racehorse. If you ring the bell, I tend to come out of the gate.”
By Jan. 26, he was en route to Haiti. He went as part of an 80-member International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT), which went to Gheskio, six miles from Port-au-Prince.
He was told to simply bring toilet paper and a tent to sleep in at night.
Once he arrived, Dr. Bochicchio saw how primitive Haiti was and how limited the medical supplies were in the medical tent area that was receiving patients. The team saw 1,250 patients in 10 days, many with long-standing injuries that required amputation.
“We saw things on patients that we call the natural progression of disease,” Bochicchio said. “We saw patients that must have had things for years because there’s no way it gets this way unless it goes undiagnosed or treated. People came in having never seen a doctor.”
Bochicchio worries about the possibilities of airborne diseases in Haiti, particularly during the rainy season, which starts in April.
The medical team performed 52 major surgical procedures and 250 minor surgeries in one operating room.
“I think we really did some good, no doubt,” he said.
Bochicchio often showed orthopedic surgeons how to give sedations and how to administer pain medication.
“That’s not the optimum way to doing things,” he said of the rush to keep up with patients, “but when they have six or seven procedures waiting to be done and we’re going to be busy in the OR for the next six or seven hours, you’ve got to adapt. If you don’t adapt, improvise and overcome the obstacles then you become ineffective.”
One day the team used all its available oxygen and was forced to use the operating room’s natural air to get through procedures.
The team became attached to one infant boy who was suffering from tetanus and struggling to breathe. He came with just a patient number and no name. One of the team members, who was from Virginia, called the boy Jefferson and the name stuck.
“He was pretty sick,” Bochicchio said. “He was on a ventilator. We were hand ventilating, without a machine, for a day-and-a-half. We didn’t think he would survive.”
The team gave up hope that he could breathe on his own and went to bed thinking he might not live. When they awoke, however, they found the boy still breathing
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen to baby Jefferson, but we think he’s going to be the next president of Haiti,” the doctor said. “There was a reason why that kid survived.”
Bochicchio returned to the United States in early February, where he continues to be inspired by his veteran patients at the Baltimore VA Medical Center.
He saw a similar determination in Haiti, as people celebrated Mass regularly, despite the hardships.
“It puts things in perspective for you about what’s important,” he said. “The only thing that gets you through that is faith. If you don’t have faith, then when your material world falls down around you, you have nothing left.”
