Update - There was a Motions Hearing on the 13 Count Federal Indictment of Jeffrey Friedlander, Troy Wubbena, Carl Ehresman and Sarah Ehresman on June 12, 2009.

The trial date was reset for 11-9-2009 at 10:30 am

The parties argued as follows:

Jeffrey Friedlander - Did not agree to a Waiver of a Speedy Trial
Troy Wubbena - Did not authorize a Waiver of a Speedy Trial
Carl Ehresman - Requested an extension and a Waiver of the Speedy Trial
Sarah Ehresman - Requested an extension and a Waiver of the Speedy Trial
USA (Government) - Stated there would be additional charges filed, in addition to the 13 Felonies already filed, that would most likely require additional discovery prior to the Trial.

Judge (ruling): Based on the "voluminous Discovery" and the "potential additional charges" GRANTED the extension and waived the right to a speedy trial.


Troy Wubbena failed a drug test for a controlled substance in violation of his Bond. He claimed that it was medication for a shoulder injury. The federal judge on 5-27-2009 ordered him to have an Independent Medical Examination, not to take any drugs that were not prescribed by the physician doing the Independent Medical Examination, not to take any drugs listed in the Indictment, and to show the Courts any prescriptions prior to having it filled.

Troy Wubbena now has Jeffrey Brown (often seen on Greta Van Sustren's show "On The Record") as his Private Attorney.

Jeffrey Friedlander is now represented by a third Federal Public Defender (the first two requested off the case) after filing an affidavit of indegence.

Both Carl and Sarah Ehresman have private attorneys, which have been appointed by the court, representing them in lieu of Public Defenders. These two different attorneys were appointed to them after both Sarah and Carl filed letters of indigence.

Carl Ehresman was scheduled to have a hearing today in Hillsborough County for Violation of Probation in a seperate felony case in which he was on probation for "Theft Forgery and Fraud".

ALL OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED FROM PUCLIC RECORDS

the failed drug test isnt going to help matters.

the other stuff looks like business as usual. looks like it will not be business as usual until the winter time for any patients, however, since the trial is set for november. that is of course unless it gets pushed back again.

Business as usual?? I don't think the doc can prescribe anything though???

the other stuff looks like typical court stuff, nothing mind blowing or too revealing -- aside from the failed drug test.

but since the court date is being pushed back, it means that the doctor who cannot prescribe certain medications will not be able to do that for even longer. i would imagine in this time many, if not most, of his patients will move on to other doctors.

ALL of the clinics are closed.

ALL of the phone numbers are disconnected.

They are not seeing patients and have not seen patients since Troy Wubbena had his License Suspended. Troy Wubbena has not retained an attorney to represent him for the License Suspension and is not fighting it (as far as I can tell).

I think "business as usual" in this case meant there is nothing odd, unusual, groundbreaking, or astonishing in the information that was presented about the current status of the case.

I feel snippets was commenting that it seems to be a standard case proceeding in the normal manner.

Once the case is decided, then, and only then, will we have some sort of grasp on the situation. The people involved may have the book thrown at them, or the doctor may be back in his clinic with his practice and license fully restored. His reputation will be sullied either way, because there are those that assume if charges are filed against someone, they are automatically true.

APAININTAMPA= Wrong Information!

I just wanted to clear up ApaininTampa's information.

The Orlando and Sarasota offices are open and seeing patients. I have called both the numbers for both these office and they are not disconnected and spoke to a person at each location today.

Just thougt I'd clear that one up.

I was wrong on Orlando. They evidently had two clinics there, one on Amelia Avenue and one on Colonial Avenue. The telephone number for the Amelia Ave. Clinic (407) ***-1993 is being answered and they say they are open. The telephone number for the Colonial Ave Clinic (407) ***-8854 is disconnected. The telephone for the Lakeland, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Tampa clinics are all disconnected. The Sarasota Clinic has had a telephone working on it, but I have never been able to get through.

thanks firefairy.
----

on a different issue, i do believe the orlando office has been open since all this started apainintampa. please do not post false information on here, as you have a habit of doing.

im sure many people - including myself - appreciate the legal updates on what has been going on, and we all know you are doing because you feel the office shorted you money so your act/behavior is really all in the name of revenge and not just to simply let the db community at large know what is happening. so please, for everyone sake here and the doctors too, until a judge/jury can decide their fate, please stick to the facts and just be honest.

snippets - There you go Again - Why are you so obsessed with being confrontational to every post I make. Everything I have posted, with one exception, has been accurate. In that one instance when I was wrong, I quickly posted that it was incorrect and corrected my error.

Of course some of the postings I have made are my opinion and we will not know who is right until the trial is completed and there is a verdict.

In contrast, when you post things that are obviously incorrect, such as a previous post on this thread, when you aggressively post "posting inaccurate information is permitted to freely exploit people, such as the christopher person who is not named in any indictment yet the anonymous poster CLAIMS is an employyee,", you did not even take the time to read the link that I had attached where it CLEARLY listed Dr. Friedlander as his employer.

ONCE AGAIN, go to this link:

http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/pub/default.asp?/Online/qdisp/bn=08053747

Are you going to admit that your were WRONG and falsely accused me of saying incorrectly that Clarence "Christopher" Ward was an employee of Dr Friedlanders. Of course not, that would take character on your part.

I have never had a post removed for Flaming. How many times have your posts been removed for Flaming? Quoting the same Post of yours: "its a little frustrating that a number of the posts related to what apainintampa has been posting was deleted. im not sure why those comments are unfit for the board"

Take your own advise and "relax, take it easy. enjoy life.".

I think that sometimes people cannot see the forest for all the trees, and this case has a lot of trees. And yes, I do think, as does the Florida Department of Health (which is headed by a doctor), that there is credible evidence that the continued medical practice of Troy Wubbena and (in my opinion) Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander are "an immediate serious danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the public".

People should really take time to Re Read the Emergency Suspension Order for Troy Wubbena, which is still in effect. It bases the findings on the testimony of young man that states he was effectively put to work selling drugs on the street for Troy Wubbena AND on the 13 count federal indictment which details 12 separate instances where under cover individuals obtained drugs illegally from Troy Wubbena (who owns the clinics) and Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander (who is an employee of Troy Wubbenas).

Any accusation made of that nature would result in such a suspension until the trial.

Even if there is nothing to back it up other than one person's claim, the suspension takes place. Happens around here all the time. If there was more evidence that what this young man claims is true, Troy Wubbena would not be walking around in public. That does not mean it is false, just that we do not know if it is true, either.

Anyone can claim anything, it does not make it fact.
Any such claim made will result in a suspension, just in case it is true.

One person's claim may be enough to put in place legal restrictions to protect the public, but it is not enough to condemn someone, legally or in most people's minds.



These people have not been convicted of anything yet, and we have multiple members here who have spoken well of this doctor and his practice. Members who have posted in many sections, about various services, over the years.

How can we condemn him based on a troubled young man's blame-shifting testimony?

When the actual trials take place, it may very well be true, we may all decide this whole group of people were scum, and we may be angry at how they brought more negative attention to pain management. That time is not now, not only is the jury still out, they have not even heard the evidence yet.


So many of the doctors who were willing to treat pain in a compassionate manner have been lost to us due to false accusations. We owe it to those doctors and the ones who still have the capacity and the willingness to prescribe to be cautious in cases such as these.

Firefairy.....Thank You

You said what I have been trying to say all along....But you did it so elegantly!!

OK people...I've been reading for over an hour and I am in shock. I knew Dr. F 30 years ago and he was a dedicated Doctor. I am in shock really to hear all this. I can't even believe that he knowingly had anything to do with illegal activities. And this PA...let's remember is being ACCUSED by an 18 year old and the state is running with that. Sorry, I don't trust an 18 year old that got busted.
But, I do remember Dr. F and he was honest and caring.
There ARE two sides to every story; try to keep that in mind.
As for Dr. F I wish him nothing but the best. If anyone could be taken advantage of, it would be him; he had a kind and trusting nature and apparently it was exploited by his staff and even his "wife". Eventually the truth will come out. God bless you Dr. F. JC

Hopefully the Truth will Prevail....But with the Government/DEA Witch Hunt these days ....It's hard to say!

How strange is it that people that never posted here suddenly come to say how great and legal, or how bad and illegal, this doctor has been with them for years and that the fishy forum, RXW, that promoted and partnered with Dr. Friedlander and his clinics is gone from the WWW?

Stevo:

I know I'm replying to an old post and I never knew this Dr but, You're absolutely correct. It's a WITCH HUNT. The alphabets are not after the truth they just want an example.....ANY example......True or not.

I have not posted here lately as there has not been any new developments in this case, as far as I am aware. I am going to try and keep my opinions to myself (even though that will be hard as I have some very strong opinions) until after the trial or settlement. At that point I will DEFINITELY express my opinions of Troy Wubbena and Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander. Until then, I will try to keep just to updating the facts.

I am intrigued by the Administrators comments about RXW Forum. I have never heard of them before this post. Does anyone here have any knowledge, thoughts or opinions of them? Was that the full name of the forum?

Here is the full name of the forum but I think it's gone r x w a t c h e rs.
When I clicked on my book mark for it a page opened saying this account has been suspended, than my google book mark button is gone. I have no idea how that happened.
K

RXW is GONE!!

Thank you for the info tango5. I will do some research. I am pretty good at online searches.

I did briefly look at it. The domain for RXW is suspended. It was registered anonymously back in 2005. It was linked to RxDrug-Board.com, which is no longer active. I am not sure at this time what that connection was.

I will let everyone know if anything interesting turns up.

Lakeland Pain Doctor Faces New Charges
Allegations of Medicare fraud heaped on physician accused of improperly distributing painkillers.
By Robin Williams Adams
The Lakeland Ledger

Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 19, 2009 at 12:15 a.m.

LAKELAND | A federal grand jury has lodged additional charges against Dr. Jeffrey Friedlander and three staff members arrested with him in April on charges of conspiring to dispense addictive painkillers.

They worked at the Neurology and Pain Centers in Lakeland, Tampa, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and Orlando. A hearing is scheduled Oct. 29 for arraignment on a "superseding indictment," basically taking the place of the earlier one, that adds accusations of Medicare fraud and retains the previous allegations of improperly distributing painkillers.

The arraignment is scheduled for Friedlander, physician assistant Troy Wubbena and employee Sarah Ehresman, according to court documents.

A fourth defendant, Carl Ehresman, an emergency medical technician, has accepted a plea agreement.

The agreement calls for him to plead guilty to conspiracy to "knowingly and intentionally distribute and dispense, and cause the distribution and dispensing of" the prescription drugs. Several charges against him would be dropped and he would testify in ongoing federal proceedings in that case.

A hearing on the plea agreement is scheduled Thursday in Tampa before Magistrate Judge Thomas G. Wilson, who also scheduled to preside at the Oct. 29 hearing.

Friedlander - board certified in internal medicine, neurology, pain medicine and vascular neurology - was the only one legally allowed to prescribe the controlled substances named in the indictment.

But the indictment contends the defendants used pre-signed, blank prescription forms on which people other than Friedlander filled in the controlled substances and dosages being prescribed.

Oxycodone, morphine, hydrocodone and alprazolam are the drugs they mostly used, according to the indictment filed earlier this month. The first three are powerful, highly addictive painkillers. Alprazolam, better known as Xanax, is for anxiety caused by depression and for anxiety and panic disorders.

A jury trial once set for Nov. 9 for all defendants has been rescheduled for February.

The indictment accuses Friedlander and Wubbena of conspiring with others to defraud Medicare by filing claims for services that weren't given. It says they billed for procedures with higher payment rates when lower-paid, less complex procedures actually had been done.

That type of billing, called upcoding, results in health providers' receiving more money than they're eligible for under Medicare. The indictment says they began committing Medicare fraud about 2006, through methods such as:

Using massage therapists to do "physical therapy" that they weren't licensed to do, while billing Medicare for legitimate physical therapy done by licensed physical therapists under the supervision of a physician.

Billing for more extensive office visits than actually occurred, requesting the higher rate for medical evaluation and management for established patients when unlicensed, nonmedical people saw patients without supervision by the physician.

Routinely billing for a procedure called facet joint block injection that needs fluoroscopic guidance with imaging equipment into a point in the vertebrae when they actually gave "trigger point" injections into painful areas of muscle. Unlicensed, nonmedical people did the trigger-point injections without a doctor's presence and supervision, the indictment charges.

its pretty easy to prove when/if procedures werent done. that sucks for the doctors but if they did in fact defraud the system, they will have to pay hard. i also find it very interesting that mr. ehresman is going to be testifying in the case which his wife is a part of.

The new Federal Grand Jury 47 Felony Count Superceding Indictment is now available on the internet. You can find it by doing a Google Search of Troy Wubbena or Jeffrey Friedlander. For your convenience, I have made a download available below. It is so long that it required to seperate PDFs. They are both now facing, in essence, life in prison.

they may be able to fight the charges relating to the prescriptions but, now that mr. ehrsman is going to testify against the others in the case, it is quite feasible he will say ''anything'' damaging to those being charged in order to save his own tail.

as far as them not performing an adequate diagnosis, they did much more than any so-called ''legitimate'' doctor i have been too. i was asked more questions, given a thoro physical exam, asked questions about addiction, etc. but that is only my experience. that is not to say they werent doing the opposite in another room. anyways...

its the medicare charges they may have an extremely tough time fighting. it appears they are being charged with a significant amount of ''upcoding'' which is just what it sounds like, submitting claims to medicare which were not done. gotta be careful when defrauding the government. many times medicare patients do not review their explanation of benefits bc if they arent paying anything out of pocket, or have a set copay each time, what doesnt it matter to the patient if $5 was charged or $5,000, they have to pay the same $X copay each time (that is of course if they even have a copay.)

an interesting thing to note is that the amount they are alleged to have schemed looks like to be roughly $1,100 total. it is VERY conceivable that the billing person erroneously posted those charges since they occurred over the course of approx. one year throughout 2007-2008. it is very very rare the doctor themselves will post charges as that is why they have a biling dept./billing person to post charges, submit claims, etc.
its very interesting bc if the doctors did in fact try to scam the medicare system, why did they not do it prior to 2007 and why stop after only so short a time. further, it appears this couldve been done with only one or a few patients when they were undoubtedly seeing many more. so why try to scam for only $1,000 and not go for so much more as doctors who conciously scam are prone to do. that is why you read about million dollar scams being perpertrated bc its done on every single patient. it doesnt look like the case here.

however, the court system sucks and even if they are innocent, they obviously are facing some super serious charges and its going to take some time and be very expensive to get through all this.