Merrick doctor found liable in wrongful death

Belfiore still claims opiod manufacturers to blame while federal case continues

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A Merrick doctor was recently found liable in a wrongful death civil lawsuit filed by the family of one of his former patients, who died of an opioid overdose.

The suit was filed against Michael Belfiore by the family of Justin Lenz, a 28-year-old man who began seeing the doctor in 2009 because of chronic back pain. On April 19, 2011, one day after receiving a prescription for 120 oxycodone 30-milligram tablets and 60 1mg Xanax tablets, Lenz was found dead on his bathroom floor.

According to attorney Dave Pollack, who represented Lenz’s family in court, the jury decided that Belfiore departed from “good and accepted medical practice” in his prescriptions for Lenz, and that the departure was a substantial factor in his death.


Belfiore also faces federal criminal charges in relation to two other patients who died of overdoses. The jury, Pollack said, was unaware of those deaths or the federal case against Belfiore.

“Only a conviction is admissible in a civil case, so not only was our jury not aware of his criminal situation, but they were instructed not to do any research into Dr. Belfiore,” Pollack said in an interview on Thursday.

Pollack also alleged that Belfiore told numerous lies throughout the civil trial, including that he had referred Lenz to a therapist because of his emotional state. And Belfiore was unable to produce certain records because they were lost when a shed behind his house was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy.

The attorney minced no words in evaluating Belfiore’s statements.

“He’s an inveterate liar,” Pollack said, “one of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

The jury awarded Lenz’s daughter, who was 8 ½ years old at the time of his death, $750,000 for loss of parental care and guidance.


According to new filings in the federal criminal case against him, Belfiore should have known that two of his other patients who died of overdoses were likely abusing their opioid medications.

Belfiore was charged in 2014 with unlawfully prescribing oxycodone to an undercover Nassau County detective, and now faces further charges of illegally prescribing the drug to patients.

Belfiore wrote 5,000 prescriptions for 600,000 pain pills between January 2010 and March 2013, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration opened an investigation in 2013 into Belfiore’s practice after receiving many complaints by pharmacists, law enforcement officers and confidential sources, court documents state.

U.S. Attorney Robert Capers is prosecuting the case against Belfiore.

According to the recent filings, Belfiore prescribed one patient, a 32-year-old man referred to as “John Doe #1,” oxycodone, muscle relaxants and anti-anxiety medication, and administered drug tests regularly to him to make sure he was taking the medication as it was prescribed.

The test results, according to Capers, came back with suspicious results on 40 occasions, including indications that the patient was taking another controlled substance he was not prescribed by Belfiore, some that indicated he was not taking the anti-anxiety medication and some indicating marijuana use. Also, Capers said, on more than one occasion, the patient told Belfiore that he was out of his medication or it was stolen, and needed a new prescription.

On April 12, 2013, John Doe #1 picked up his three prescriptions from Belfiore. On April 13, he died of an overdose.

Another patient — 42-year-old John Doe #2” — was treated by Belfiore for two months in 2013, according to Capers. During that time, he was prescribed oxycodone and the muscle relaxant carisprodol. Capers said that, according to the patient’s chart, Belfiore was aware that he was attending Alcoholics Anonymous for an alcohol abuse problem, but continued to prescribe him the opioid and muscle relaxant, while referring him to an addiction specialist.

John Doe #2 died of acute oxycodone intoxication on March 13, three days after filling his prescription from Belfiore.

Belfiore and Liotti have asked that evidence relating to the two deaths be suppressed, because “it is virtually impossible for the government to prove or show that there is a direct nexus or correlation between a patient’s demise and his prescription of pain medication.”

Further, Belfiore and Liotti argue that the federal government and pharmaceutical industry are the ones to blame for the overprescribing of addictive medications, and that he acted in good faith, with legitimate medical purpose.

According to Belfiore, federal guidelines and warnings about the danger of addiction did not exist until recently, and the medical community believed for years that opioids could be used to manage pain without significant fear of addiction.

“With all due respect to the government, its overly simplistic ‘knee-jerk’ presentment to the grand jury totally ignored these compelling factors and wrongfully placed the blame on Dr. Belfiore instead of where it belongs — on ‘Big Pharma,’” Liotti wrote in a motion. “The government should indict ‘Big Pharma’ and should consent to the voluntary dismissal of the charges against Dr. Belfiore, or the court should do so.”

Liotti has indicated that he intends to subpoena federal officials, including Sylvia Burwell, former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, to testify about the history of the opioid epidemic and the government’s role in it.

He has also filed a motion to join a Suffolk County suit against Purdue and other opioid manufacturers.

In a March 3 filing, Capers said the subpoenas should be denied.

Belfiore is next due in court for a status conference on April 5.