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PUBLISHED THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2002, 1:20 p.m.
Patient: Graves likely saved my life
Monica Scandlen @PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Several former patients of Dr. James Graves testified Thursday they were satisfied with the care the Pace doctor provided.
One patient, Bill Willis, even said Graves likely saved his life because he referred him to another doctor who diagnosed Willis' colon cancer.
Defense attorney Mike Gibson asked Willis whether Graves saved his life.
"Had the cancer spread, it could be a very good possibility," Willis answered.
The prosecution is trying to prove Graves so recklessly prescribed narcotics that he is responsible for the overdose deaths of four patients.
The defense says Graves was just doing his job as a doctor and many patients were addicts who lied to get the drugs they craved.
The trial in Circuit Judge Kenneth Bell's court is on track to be one of the longest in Santa Rosa County. It enters its sixth week next week.
Graves, 55, of Pace is charged with manslaughter, racketeering and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. If convicted he faces 15 to 30 years in prison. The manslaughter charges stem from the deaths of four patients who overdosed and died on medication Graves prescribed.
Graves often prescribed a mixture of powerful drugs, including the narcotic painkiller OxyContin, to patients. Some local pharmacists dubbed the combination of OxyContin, Soma, Xanax and Lortab "the Graves cocktail."
PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2002
Tape reveals inconsistencies in treatment
Defense attorneys played three audiotapes Wednesday morning _ all secretly taped _ which revealed many inconsistencies in the way Dr. James Graves treated patients.
Two were of visits by patient Martha Blackmon and one was a conversation between Graves, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agent Dennis Haley and Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar.
In one visit by Blackmon on March 9, 2000, Graves examines her fresh needlemarks, tells her to go get drug treatment and stop injecting drugs, then says she can come back for her prescriptions until she can get into a rehabilitation program. Addicts crush the tablets, mix it with water, heat it and inject it.
"If you'll stop it right now, I'll give you enough medication to keep you comfortable," Graves said.
The trial moved briefly Wednesday afternoon to the U.S. District Courthouse in Pensacola so jurors could hear the video testimony of a defense witness.