Dr. William E. Hurwitz may face life in prison for prescribing medication to sufferers of chronic pain as a result of the federal government successfully prosecuting him in the federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia. He was convicted on December 16 on 50 counts, including illegally prescribing narcotic pain medication to patients, causing the death of one patient, and seriously injuring two others.
When Hurwitz was arrested, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gene Rossi declared that the government would do its best to "root out" over prescribing prescription pain doctors "like the Taliban." Prosecutor Mark Lytle said in court that Hurwitz "is no better than a crack dealer, simply because he has a medical degree."
