Limbaugh accused of 'doctor shopping'

WEST PALM BEACH - Investigators who raided the offices of Rush Limbaugh's doctors said in search warrants filed Thursday that the conservative radio commentator engaged in illegal drug use and "doctor shopping" for prescription painkillers.

The warrants - which name four doctors and several prescription drugs - show investigators were looking for medical, insurance and appointment records for Limbaugh, as well as cash receipts and prescription forms, when they raided two offices Nov. 25. No charges have been filed and no arrests have been made.

"Mr. Limbaugh's actions violate the letter, and spirit" of the law that relates to doctor shopping, stated one of warrants, signed by Asim Brown, a law enforcement agent.

Doctor shopping refers to looking for a doctor willing to prescribe drugs illegally, or getting prescriptions for a single drug from more than one doctor at the same time.

"Mr. Limbaugh alternated physicians to obtain overlapping prescriptions" and failed to tell each doctor that he was seeing others, the warrants said.

Limbaugh denied any wrongdoing to listeners on his radio show Thursday and accused prosecutors in Palm Beach County of going on a "fishing expedition."

Reading from a statement prepared by his attorney Roy Black, Limbaugh said the medical records will clear him.

"What these records show is that Mr. Limbaugh suffered extreme pain and had legitimate reasons for taking pain medication," Limbaugh said. "Unfortunately . . . he is being subjected to an invasion of privacy no citizen of this republic should endure."

State Attorney Barry Krischer said that Limbaugh's rights have been "scrupulously protected."

The records seized in the raids list prescriptions for more than 2,100 pills from March 24 through Sept. 26. The medications include the powerful painkillers Oxycontin, Lorcet, Norco, hydrocodone and Kadian. In addition, Limbaugh received prescriptions for anxiety, cholesterol and high blood pressure drugs.

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