To the Editor:
Re: http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/uf-psychiatrists-treatment-was-correct
In the above letter to the editor from Vance Dawson, attorney for Dr. Harold E. Smith, Dawson states
"the night before Alice Tomlinson died, Dr. Smith reduced her medication so therefore the complaint by the Department of Health was inaccurate insofar as the amount of medication that it thought Dr. Smith was prescribing on the day Ms. Tomlinson died." (underline added)
The administrative complaint clearly stated that Smith reduced the dosage the night before she died.
"The amount of medication Ms. Tomlinson was prescribed and had been taking was not an amount sufficient to equate to the amount found in her blood serum level by the medical examiner when the autopsy was performed."
Ask the Tomlinson's family attorney, Mac McLeod, about Mrs. Tomlinson's liver condition and her ability to metabolize OxyContin and how that affects the level of the drug in her blood serum. Also, the DOH's complaint did not even state that the drug levels caused her death. It did not state a cause of death.
Joel Voss
Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Tampa Chapter