Patient Suicide Blamed on Montana Pain Clinic
/By Pat Anson, Editor
A 54-year old Montana man who apparently committed suicide earlier this month was a patient at a Great Falls pain clinic accused of mistreating patients and poorly managing their chronic pain. Bryan Spece was found dead in his Lewistown home on May 3.
“From what we know, about two weeks before his death, they had cut his pain pills back significantly. We’re not sure the exact amount. We’re trying to get ahold of his medical records,” said a family member. “When they called and told us that he’d been found with a gunshot wound, we thought someone had attacked him. Suicide was not even on our charts anywhere.”
BRYAN SPECE
"He was the last person anyone would have thought to take his own life. He was just not that guy," another family member said. "I know he was in a lot of pain and in a very dark spot."
Until recently, Spece was one of several hundred patients being treated at the Benefis Pain Management Center by Rodney Lutes, a physician assistant. The 68-year old Lutes was discharged by Benefis in March for unexplained reasons and the care of his patients was transferred to other providers at the clinic.
Many of Lutes' former patients – including some who were on relatively high doses of opioid pain medication – say they are now being “bullied” and treated like drug addicts by Benefis doctors and clinic staff. Their prescriptions for pain medication have been drastically reduced or stopped entirely.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a "go slow" approach when patients are weaned or tapered to minimize symptoms of opioid withdrawal. The CDC says a "reasonable starting point" would be 10% of the original dose per week. Patients who have been on opioids for a long time should have even slower tapers of 10% a month, according to the CDC.
The Department of Veterans Affairs recommends a taper of 5% to 20% every four weeks, although in some extreme cases the VA says an initial rapid taper of 20% to 50% a day is needed
Bryan Spece's dose may have been reduced by 70 percent.
"I talked to him a few days before he died and he said they had cut him from 100 milligrams of oxycodone a day to 30. He was not doing well," a relative told PNN.
“He was one of my patients that I saw routinely. He was doing very well on the regimen I had him on,” said Lutes, who treated Spece for about three years and never saw signs of depression.
“My suspicion is that, like the rest of my patients, he got totally slammed at this pain clinic at Benefis and they probably took all his medicines away,” Lutes said. “Right now I am so angry about this happening. This was a good guy.”
According to his obituary, Spece was a gun collector, Marine Corps veteran, Oakland Raiders fan and belonged to a motorcycle club. Friends and family called him “Bonz.”
“He was a very loud fun loving kind of guy you always knew when Bonz walked into a room,” reads the obituary published in the Helena Independent Record.
But recently some noticed that Spece was depressed about his inability to work regularly because of chronic pain from carpal tunnel syndrome and an old back injury.
“He was having money issues with not being able to work as often because of the pain and with having his pain pills cut back. He was just very stressed, constantly, about it,” said a family member, who believes Benefis is "100%" responsible for Spece's death.
“The police found several text messages on his phone. He was talking to his friends there in Lewistown, stating ‘Come get my guns. I’m in so much pain, I might do something stupid.’ And then he’d laugh it off. So nobody thought he was really thinking about ending his life.”
"We extend our condolences to the family during this difficult time," Benefis spokesman Ben Buckridge said in a statement. Buckridge said Benefis could not comment any further because of patient and employee privacy rights.
“I lay awake wondering how many Bryans are also laying awake at the same time and I pray to God to please let them know that we are here for them,” says Re Ann Rothwell, a former patient of Lutes who claims Benefis dropped her “like a dirty diaper.”
Rothwell has organized a support group for Lutes’ patients and has reached about 100 of them so far. The group has formed an active online community and is trying to locate hundreds of other former Lutes' patients to offer them support. Rothwell worries there could be more suicides.
“I truly feel that we failed in the case of Bryan Spece and perhaps several others who have taken their lives because of Benefis' actions. They felt so alone and in despair that suicide was the only answer. We just do not know about them yet. It truly breaks my heart,” she said in an email. “We just need to figure out how to reach those folks. Perhaps Bryan's death will help us find a few more folks on the brink, who we can pull back with love, support and hugs.”
In April, a disgruntled pain patient burned down a doctor's home near Great Falls, held the doctor's wife at gunpoint and killed himself during a standoff with police. David Herron was not a patient at the pain clinic, but suffered from chronic back pain and apparently had a long-standing grievance with the doctor, an orthopedic surgeon for Benefis.
The pain clinic is part of Benefis Health System, a non-profit community-based health organization that operates a hospital and provides a wide variety of medical services in Great Falls, a city of over 58,000 people in north central Montana. With over 3,000 physicians and other employees, Benefis is the largest employer in the area outside of government.
In a statement emailed to PNN last week, a Benefis pain management specialist outlined the clinic’s policy about opioid medication.
“Our clinic does not suddenly discontinue opioid prescriptions for patients unless we feel it is unsafe to continue prescribing them,” said Katrina Lewis, MD. “We know so much more now about how these drugs work than we did 20 years ago. The practice of medicine, procedures, and guidelines change over time, and we’re certainly seeing an evolution in how we care for people with chronic pain.
“We are following evidenced-based practice and recommendations of reputable pain societies in approaching the care we provide. We recognize that opioids absolutely have a place in the management of chronic pain for some patients. Our focus is to treat each patient individually with use of risk stratification and evaluation of patient pathology and co-morbidities.”
‘Dear Valued Patient’
But the form letters sent by Benefis to hundreds of Rodney Lutes’ patients in March could hardly be described as treating “each patient individually.” Patients were notified that Lutes was no longer practicing at the pain clinic, that they were being reassigned to new providers, and that their prescriptions would probably be changed. They were also told not to complain.
“Your new provider will do a thorough evaluation of all your medications and will likely make changes that he or she feels are in your best interests,” a form letter with the salutation “Dear Valued Patient” states. “Please be aware that arguing or complaining about changes in your prescriptions will not alter your clinician’s care plan.”
“The prescriptions you will be given may not be what you are used to. It will be what is appropriate for your care,” another form letter says. “Verbal or written complaints to staff and management will not result in a change to your prescription.”
As PNN has reported, some patients also received letters stating that “all care providers” in the Great Falls area had been made aware of the changes at Benefis and “with what is going on with PA Lutes’ patients.” Many of those patients are now having trouble finding new doctors and feel they’ve been branded as addicts and drug seekers.
“We do our best to care for our patients and regret that this transition has been difficult for some. We realize we have opportunities to improve our communication with patients and will be working on that as a team moving forward. We are always looking at new ways to improve the patient experience, and we value patient feedback,” Nikki Phillips, Office Manager at the Benefis Pain Clinic, said in last week’s emailed statement.
What’s happening at Benefis is a microcosm of what’s happening all over the country. Patients are being abruptly weaned off opioids or being abandoned by doctors and pain clinics that are fearful of running afoul of the CDC’s “voluntary” prescribing guidelines, the DEA, or their own medical liability insurers. Some providers are steering patients toward surgeries or costly “interventional” procedures that they don’t want.
At PNN, we hear regularly from chronic pain patients who were able to lead stable and productive lives for years on relatively high doses of opioids – a medical treatment that many are now denied and are told doesn't work. Many pain sufferers are in despair, increasingly disabled and having suicidal thoughts.
Until the needs of those patients are taken into consideration and appropriately balanced with society's need to prevent addiction, there will be more Bryan Speces and more grieving families.
“This man was the most happy-go-lucky man. He adored his grandchildren. He was a good time, all of the time. If he hadn’t been in so much pain, I don’t think he would have had a negative thought,” a family member told us.
“He lost a sister 12 years ago to suicide and he was always so broken up about that. He’s always said he would never do that.”
Spece’s death is still classified as a homicide because his autopsy report is incomplete. The Fergus County coroner is still awaiting results from toxicology tests.
