By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

They call themselves the “NC 34” – thirty-four patients left in limbo after the North Carolina Medical Board told their doctor this week to surrender his DEA license. Without that license, Dr. Thomas Kline can no longer prescribe opioid pain medication and other controlled substances.

Kline’s 34 patients, who all suffer from chronic and rare diseases, now face the imminent prospect of withdrawal and uncontrolled pain when they run out of opioid medication in the next few weeks or days.

“The board has no idea how irresponsible their actions were taking away Dr. Kline's DEA license, because the board has adversely affected the lives of 34 of Dr. Kline's chronic pain patients, all of whom are pain refugees and all of whom require opiate therapy on a daily basis in order to have some semblance of a quality of life,” says Leslie Bythewood, a Kline patient who lives with hypothyroidism and Chiari malformation of the brain, which causes severe migraines and cluster headaches.

“When our pain meds run out, we are going to go through not only withdrawal but our original pain is going to rise exponentially and make our lives miserable, insufferable and totally unlivable once again.”

As PNN has reported, the North Carolina Medical Board won’t say why it is investigating the 76-year old Kline, who until now had no record of any complaint or disciplinary action taken against him.

Kline has no idea why his practice has come under scrutiny. In recent years, he’s become an outspoken advocate for pain patients — maintaining that doctors should decide when and how to treat their patients with opioids, not state medical boards or the DEA.

Kline says he was pressured by state investigators into surrendering his DEA license when they made a surprise visit to his office in Raleigh on Monday – a decision he now regrets.

“I was never notified when these inspectors came out that it was voluntary. They called me on the phone and said they were coming by in two hours to get you to surrender your license,” Kline told PNN. “I’ve been telling doctors, ‘Never surrender your license.’  But I thought this was something different. And it threw me for a loop as to why this is coming from the medical board.”

‘I Have 7 Days of Meds Left’

Kline’s medical license remains active and he can still see patients, he just can’t write prescriptions for opioids or other controlled medications. Kline has urged all 34 patients to find new prescribers.  

“All of the patients have been searching and searching and searching and they can’t find anyone,” says Kline, who treats several out-of-state patients who travel hundreds of miles to see him because they can’t find a local provider willing to treat them.

Opioid hysteria, fear of prosecution and medical discrimination have made doctors and pharmacists reluctant to accept new pain patients, particularly those on high opioid doses.  

“Right now, prospects are slim of finding either a provider or a pharmacy.  I don't know what is going to happen,” said Jeff Geurin, a disabled Air Force veteran in Georgia who was injured in a parachute accident.

“I have severe chronic pain, the only relief from which has come from high-dose opiate medications.  After the VA discontinued all veterans off pain meds in 2015, and shortly thereafter the civilian doctors, I was out of options. I was planning my suicide in 2018, and two weeks before my planned exit, Dr. Kline rescued me.”

While under Kline’s care, Geurin says he’s been able to live a relatively normal life. He was thrilled recently to land a job as a 911 dispatcher.

“I have about 7 days of meds left, so I'm going to be hurting and withdrawing while starting a new job. I'm scared, I'm angry, and I'm sad for all the other patients of Dr. Kline who have been ripped from stability and pain control for no good reason,” Geurin wrote in an email. 

“There's another patient that is already talking of suicide. And what are you supposed to say to him? No, don't do it? That would be like telling the people trapped in the North Tower on 9/11 not to jump, they have to stay in the tower and burn to death.”  

“I am almost ready to check myself out of this life, because I can't seem to find a single caring physician since Dr. Kline lost his DEA license, and I know for a fact that I simply cannot live with this constant, intense pain,” said Bythewood.

“I deserve the right to proper medical care. A diabetic isn’t denied insulin, but pain patients are being targeted because of an opioid epidemic,” said Colleen Davis-Harrison, a Kline patient who has multiple sclerosis and arachnoiditis, a chronic inflammation of spinal nerves. “I will support Dr. Kline and my fellow patients. I just hope no one gets hurt or does something stupid while others wait to see what’s in the cards for us.” 

“I do not have another doctor to write my prescriptions. I had already exhausted all of my options in my state when I went to Dr. Kline,” said Kristina Mitchell, a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) who lives in Virginia. “Without him I don't know what I will do. Withdrawal is not my concern, that won't last. The full force of my pain coming back is my greatest fear and I know I can't handle it. 

“I hope this gives you a general idea of what an amazing, good, caring and life-saving doctor Kline is. Without him, myself and 33 other people may not be here today. This board is putting all our lives at risk by keeping him from prescribing to us.” 

Duping of Healthcare Providers

Will Kline be able to get his DEA license back? One expert says that is unlikely. 

“I have never heard of any controlled substance registrant who surrendered or otherwise lost a controlled substance registration being able to get it back from the DEA,” said attorney Michael Barnes, who is managing partner at DCBA Law & Policy, a law firm that advises healthcare providers.

Barnes tells clients not to be intimidated by DEA or medical board investigators who claim that surrendering a license is only temporary.

“If you surrender that authority, it doesn’t matter if there used to be a piece of paper. Surrendering of the authority is saying ‘I’m giving up my right to prescribe.’ This is part of the duping of healthcare providers, where they think they are doing one thing. In reality they’re doing something that’s permanent,” Kline told PNN.  

The North Carolina Medical Board’s investigation of Kline apparently began a few months ago, when it asked him for the records of nine patients. A spokeswoman for the board told PNN that investigations of healthcare providers typically take six months to a year to complete. 

In the interim, Barnes says the board should be proactive and make sure the “NC 34” are getting the care that they need. 

“The board should ensure that each of those patients receive a referral to a qualified, certified pain treatment professional who is capable of meeting these patients’ unique medical needs,” Barnes said. “The medical board really has an obligation, not just to give a paper with some addresses on it, but to make certain that each of these individuals is accepted into a practice and actually receives medical care.”

“The medical board has made a big mistake and has taken one of the finest doctors I have ever known, the only doctor I have ever trusted,” says Jess Stewart, another Kline patient who lives with EDS. “He wasn’t a pill mill doctor and instead of being worried about him I would be more focused on the illicit fentanyl out on the streets. You see, it’s actions like this that are forcing people to the streets. 

“Do I need another doctor? Now I do, thanks to the board. But there was nothing wrong with the one I had.”