Siobhan Reynolds / John Flannery
Pain relief and the law II

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Siobhan Reynolds is the president of The Pain Relief Network (PRN), which was formed to oppose the Federal Government crackdown on the treatment of chronic pain.

They have raised awareness of this issue in the media, and developed and implemented a Clinical Litigation Project.

People in severe chronic pain are the most disenfranchised and voiceless minority in America today. They exist in the darkness created by the myth of available care. Their daily lives are truly a hell on earth. When people in pain realize that they require daily opioid pain medications, they are met with derision and suspicion, by their family and friends. Their physicians treat them as though they had become criminals subjecting them to mandatory drug testing, and coercing them into signing away their medical privacy rights to law enforcement.

When John P. Flannery opened his own boutique law practice in Virginia in the mid-80's he had both a general practice (simple assault, DUT, matrimonial and the like) but he also handled complex civil matters, and thus represented John Maguire, the founder of a wholly owned hi-tech subsidiary, Software AG, NA and Al Neuharth the founder of USA Today; on the criminal side of the docket, Mr. Flannery handled the criminal defense of several wrongly accused parties in a complex multi defendant, multi-jurisdictional securities-fraud prosecution, and represented the targets of alleged defense industries fraud as well as the targets in political corruption investigations.

Mr. Flannery has served two tours of duty on Capitol Hill. First, on the Senate side as Special Counsel to the U. S. Senate Judiciary Committee (appointed by Chairman Strom Thurmond to investigate Quadaffi's efforts to subvert American foreign policy), and then Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Labor Committee (appointed by Chairman Orrin Hatch to investigate the confirmation hearings of former Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan). Second, on the House side, he served as Special Counsel, investigating the mob's influence in the Laborers International Union, then their influence on the Teamsters International Union. Thereafter he conducted a nationwide assessment of the American Worker, and finally assisted in the historic Impeachment proceedings of President William Jefferson Clinton (on behalf of the minority). Ms. Flannery concluded his second tour of duty on Capitol Hill as the Chief of Staff for a Congresswoman representing Silicon Valley, and was responsible for legislative, caucus leadership, and staff matters, with a special emphasis on his acknowledged expertise in matters hi-tech.

After Congress, John returned to practice at Campbell Miller Zimmerman, PC as "Of Counsel". John resumed his Criminal Defense and Appellate practice, at the federal and state level, with an emphasis on white collar criminal defense, but John has also been responsible for the defense of several significant chronic pain cases including the Florida State appeal of Richard Paey, a chronic pain patient, unjustly sentenced to 25 years for receiving pain medication, featured on Sixty Minutes; the 4th Circuit federal appeal of Dr. Ronald McIver for “overprescribing” to chronic pain patients; and the appeal of Dr. William Nucklos in Ohio; John has associated in these efforts with the Pain Relief Network, headed by its founder and President, Siobhan Reynolds.

Previous shows on related topics:

Pain relief and the law I
Our first broadcast with Siobhan Reynolds

Big Bad Renee
Her offense? How about drawing pictures... of PLANTS. This is
one story you are just NOT going to believe....

Links:

Doctor receives life sentence - article referred to on the show

Visit the Pain Relief Network website

John Flannery's oral argument in Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals, in the Richard Paey case.

Now You See It, Now You Don't: The Amazing Vanishing DEA Pain FAQ

Siobhan Reynolds statement to the NY Assembly Health Committee

Pitching relief
A Physician With Firsthand Knowledge About Pain Advocates Opium-Based Drugs Despite Fears of Abuse - Washington Post

The DEA's War on Pain Doctors
Some in the medical community call it “a war on pain doctors,” or “state-sponsored terrorism.” However you describe the current campaign, Frank Owen writes, the DEA’s hardball tactics have scared physicians nationwide to the extent that legitimate pain sufferers now find it increasingly difficult to get the medicine they need. - Village Voice

Florida's "War On Drugs" Turning Into War On Doctors and Patients
Pain Relief Network Joins National Physician and Patient Advocacy Groups in Denouncing Florida's Hearings On Pain Drugs - From The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.