Add another to the body count for Dr. Van Vu of California Pain Center in Fountain Valley.
Already being investigated by the Medical Board of California for the deaths of 16 patients he prescribed powerful medications to, there is now reportedly a 17th deceased patient.
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Huntington Beach 55-year-old Wayne Oviatt, who suffered from chronic pain, died of a prescription drug overdose, reports the Los Angeles Times, which also qualifies that the patient obtained drugs
from other doctors besides Vu.
The Times linked the death through coroner records and did not indicate whether it has yet been rolled into the medical board probe launched earlier this year of 16
deaths connected to powerful narcotics prescribed by Vu. The physician's attorney reportedly said at time his client was cooperating with investigators.
Dr. Van Vu of California Pain Center in Fountain Valley Probed for String of 16 Patient Deaths
The lawyer was also said to reveal Vu was unaware of many of the
deaths and that the treatment of some chronic pain sufferers is complicated by drug abuse and depression.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.