The Motorcycle Gang Behind Phillys Biggest Pill Mill - Daily Beast

Before building a multimillion-dollar pill mill—an operation where doctors prescribe pain pills for profit—with one of America’s deadliest motorcycle gangs, Philadelphia physician William J. O’Brien, 49, went by the name “Doctor Bear. The logo for his now-defunct website is an oversized cartoon bear with bright blue eyes, a white sling, and an eye patch. Alongside the bear is a picture of his sharply dressed staff in 2008. dozens of attractive doctors and nurses beam on the steps of a red brick building. After filing for bankruptcy in November 2010, O’Brien allegedly obtained a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The treatment, most often used for decompression sickness, allows patients to breathe in 100 percent pure oxygen at a pressurized level, helping the body repair itself. Most often used as a solo device, O’Brien’s was a 10-person chamber that the FDA had not yet authorized, and which he “contemplated” using on people with autism. In 2011, the FBI raided his offices and seized it. Doctor Bear, who at the height of his practice employed 90 people at seven locations, was forced to start over. O’Brien’s case, at first, seemed to align with the other “pill mill” operations. A doctor abusing his power, an office employee helping him do it. Two people acting outside the law for their own profit. Source: www.thedailybeast.com