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Physician assistant arrested in prescription drug overdose case

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN and MARLON A. WALKER
Published September 6, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Jason Fulford died in his bedroom eight months ago, a troubled young man who took too many pills.

His death has led the Sheriff's Office to make a major arrest in an ongoing investigation into prescription drug abuse.

Sally Jane Medina, 45, was arrested Tuesday on several charges related to improperly practicing medicine and trafficking in narcotics.

Authorities say she was working as a physician assistant at the Doctors Urgent Care Clinic in January when she supplied Fulford with prescriptions for Xanax, Oxycodone and Percocet.

Fulford, 33, died as a result of taking the drugs he obtained with those prescriptions, the Sheriff's Office said. Medina admitted to seeing Fulford and writing the prescription, according to an arrest affidavit.

The charges mark the first time that authorities have linked a death of a patient to the clinic.

"They gave him enough pills to kill a healthy person," said Fred C. Fulford, 35, Jason's brother. "My brother didn't have to show proof of anything. He had no X-rays, no note from a doctor. He had nothing."

For months, the Sheriff's Office and other authorities have been investigating the Doctors Urgent Care Clinic at 4900 33rd Ave. N in St. Petersburg and the Pinellas Park-based G & H Pharmacy.

In May, they arrested six employees at the clinic after detectives posed as patients and received narcotics. Medina was arrested in June on other charges related to the investigation.

In 2005, 207 people in Pinellas and Pasco counties died of prescription drug overdoses, according to statistics from the Medical Examiner's Office. It is rare, however, for anyone to be charged in those deaths.

Fulford had a tough life, his family said.

He grew up separated from his father, who was sent to prison after a murder conviction. He had bipolar disorder and struggled with alcohol and other drugs. He was arrested several times on various charges including DUI.

In recent years, he began turning his life around, his family said. He got a GED, quit getting into trouble and saved a little money from his disability checks.

Fulford knew about his uncle's success scoring drugs like OxyContin from the clinic and then selling them on the street, according to Fulford's mother, Pamela Walker.

"My son didn't have any money, so of course he went down there," she said.

He obtained prescriptions for 2 mg of Xanax, 325 mg of Percocet and 30 mg of Oxycodone on Jan. 23 at the clinic, according to an affidavit. The next day, his brother found him dead in his bedroom.

Fred Fulford said Jason was especially close to his mother, since he often stayed home with her.

Walker, 53, said she's still haunted by the death.

"They all need the death penalty," she said of the people who gave her son the drugs. "My life's been pure hell . . . Sometimes I wish I could just go with him. Wherever he is."

Anyone with information can call Det. Phil Mansfield at 727 582-2828.

Times reporter Chris Tisch and researchers John Martin and Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

[Last modified September 6, 2006, 00:57:12]