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1. Years of Complaints from Physicians, Public Preceded Santa Barbara Doctor’s Drugs Arrest
Noozhawk reporters have only been following Dr. Julio Diaz for months, but some of Santa Barbara’s top physicians and relatives of scores of his patients have been on his case for years.
While doctors and families complained to authorities to seeming no avail, Diaz went quietly about his business. Until he was arrested Jan. 4 on federal charges of distributing controlled substances without legitimate medical purpose.
In an affidavit the U.S. Attorney’s Office provided to Noozhawk, Drug Enforcement Administration investigators have linked 11 drug-related deaths to Diaz and logged dozens of cases of alleged overprescribing of painkillers, some of them in staggering amounts. Diaz, 63, of Goleta, was denied bail Jan. 11 and he is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
In the aftermath of the arrest, the public buzz has been one of disbelief that such serious allegations could go for years — quite possibly more than a decade — without any apparent intervention from medical oversight authorities. Thanks to Dan Wood, a spokesman for the Medical Board of California, we now can understand why.
Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli turned to the state agency because, well, it proudly claims its mission is “to protect health-care consumers through the proper licensing and regulation of physicians and surgeons and certain allied health-care professions and through the vigorous, objective enforcement of the Medical Practice Act ...”
It may be early in January, and it may be an election year, but the most asinine quote we’re likely to hear in 2012 has got to be this one:
“Just because a complaint was made by a doctor doesn’t necessarily give it more validity than if it was made by some bum on skid row,” Wood told Magnoli. “Just because he is a medical professional, just because he went to school, doesn’t make him any more credible than anybody else.”
Wood’s candor is refreshing in that it perfectly captures the medical board’s disgraceful disdain and disregard for the public that is funding it through taxpayer dollars, patient deaths be damned. If there were justice, bums like Wood would be on skid row.
Click here for the complete series index to Noozhawk’s Prescription for Abuse series, a special project exploring the misuse and abuse of prescription medications in Santa Barbara County.
The six-week investigative series, which appeared in the fall of 2011, was the result of a partnership with USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, which awarded Noozhawk a California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship to undertake this important work.
2. Santa Barbara Foundation Posts Record Year in 2011 for Donor Investment
By just about any measure, 2011 was an economic disaster. The chronic recession has been particularly cruel for the nonprofit community at the exact moment when many such services were seeing record demand.
A bright spot has been the Santa Barbara Foundation, which reported Jan. 10 that 2011 turned out to be a record year for donor investment. Ron Gallo, the foundation’s president and CEO, told Noozhawk staff writer Alex Kacik that the organization had awarded more than $15 million in grants to more than 1,700 nonprofits last year, with nearly 70 percent of the total coming from donor-advised funds.
3. Goleta Union School District Superintendent Kathy Boomer Announces Her Retirement
Reaping the benefits of good stewardship and basic-aid status, the K-6 Goleta Union School District often flies under the radar. The contrast is particularly striking compared to the Santa Barbara Unified School District, which overlaps GUSD at the secondary level and is in the big leagues when it comes to challenges.
A large part of GUSD’s success has been the result of the steady leadership of Superintendent Kathy Boomer, a veteran educator who succeeded Ida Rickborn seven years ago. On Boomer’s watch, the district developed a strategic plan, upgraded technology for teachers and students, attacked the achievement gap and kept school grounds maintained amid budget constraints.
At the GUSD board meeting Jan. 11, Boomer surprised many when she announced plans to retire at the end of June. Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli was there to get the exclusive and Boomer told her she was looking forward to spending more time with her husband and living “a life of spontaneity.” The search for a successor begins next week.
On a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve with Kathy on the boards of the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce and Santa Barbara Partners in Education. Just like a teacher, she does her homework, she’s punctual and time-conscious, and she’s a tough grader when it comes to budget math. But she’s also got the wit of a class cut-up and it’s those spontaneous wisecracks that I’ll miss the most.
4. Local Experts Say Proposed SOPA Legislation Would Create Harmful Consequences
Congress is expected to resume deliberating the Stop Online Piracy Act later this month but the legislation is drawing fire from local high-tech executives and entrepreneurs — and even publishers and musicians whose industries stand to benefit if the law passes.
Noozhawk staff writer Alex Kacik talked to Eric Greenspan, founder and CEO of Make It Work; Jacques Habra, founder and CEO of FirstClick Inc.; Kevin O’Connor, founder of FindTheBest.com; and Andy Seybold, a mobile computing consultant and founder of Andrew Seybold Inc., and found general consensus that the bill would stifle innovation and cripple small business.
Somewhat surprisingly, Steve Ainsley, president and publisher of Miller-McCune Magazine, and Harry Rabin, a local film and music producer and owner of WAVE Productions and SeaMusic Recording Studio, agreed. Both Ainsley and Rabin produce the kind of material that often falls prey to digital pirates. But they, too, understand the perils of government overreach and unintended consequences.
I’ve been in the anti-SOPA bloc for a while and for many reasons, first and foremost because it’s simple censorship. But I do understand the proponents’ concerns.
Just this week, Noozhawk fell victim to copyright infringement when a New York Web site called TheFix.com stole our copyrighted photo of Dr. Julio Diaz without permission and without crediting our Lara Cooper. To make matters worse, KCOY-TV then improperly lifted the picture and credited TheFix.com for our photo.
TheFix.com editors quickly apologized and removed the picture when we called them on it, but KCOY didn’t respond for more than three days — until, I assume, its general manager received a letter and an invoice for the violation.
This kind of stuff does happen more often than you think but, really, would it be fair if Noozhawk could shut down both Web sites until they could prove that the photo was not ours? We’re the victim here and I’m saying no.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s circular firing squad is no doubt striking fear in overseas digital pirates. Or not.
5. Former Santa Barbara Police Employee Accused of Embezzlement Also Charged with Tax Evasion
Karen Flores, the former Santa Barbara Police Department employee accused of embezzling parking ticket revenues, has also been charged with filing false personal tax returns.
Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli reported that Flores, a 22-year employee of SBPD’s business office, is now accused of taking $200,000 in taxpayer funds. Flores has pleaded not guilty to the original charges and will soon be arraigned on the tax evasion charge.
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