DEA's Barbaric Act:

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Dr. Forest Tennant Retiring Due to DEA Scrutiny

March 26, 2018

By Pat Anson, Editor
A prominent California pain physician and a longtime champion of the pain community has announced his retirement. Dr. Forest Tennant, and his wife and office manager, Miriam, have informed patients that they are closing their pain clinic in the Los Angeles suburb of West Covina, effective April 1.
“On strong legal and medical advice, as I am 77 and Miriam 76, we are closing the Veract Intractable Pain Medical Clinic and taking retirement. I will write no additional opioid prescriptions after this date,” Tennant wrote in a letter to patients. “We very much regret this situation as the clinic is filled with patients we consider beloved family and friends.”
Tennant’s retirement is largely due to an ongoing DEA investigation of his opioid prescribing practices.   DEA agents raided the Tennants’ home and clinic last November, while Tennant was testifying in Montana as a defense witness in the trial of doctor accused of negligent homicide in the overdose of two patients. The Tennants arrived home to find the front door of their home had been kicked in by DEA agents.
A DEA search warrant alleged that Tennant was part of a “drug trafficking organization” and had personally profited from the sale of high dose opioid prescriptions. Tennant has denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed against him, but the investigation remains open and the resulting stress and uncertainty have taken their toll.
“It’s hard to continue operating when they never closed my case, and so I’m going to retire and move on,” Tennant told PNN. “That’s on the advice of both my lawyers and my doctors."
DR. FOREST TENNANT  (courtesy montana public radio)
DR. FOREST TENNANT  (COURTESY MONTANA PUBLIC RADIO)
Tennant is a revered figure in the pain community because of his willingness to treat patients with intractable pain who were unable to find effective treatment elsewhere or were abandoned by their doctors. Many travel to California from out-of-state, and some are in palliative care and near death.
Tennant and his colleague, Dr. Scott Guess, treat about 150 intractable pain patients with a complex formula of high dose opioid prescriptions, hormones, anti-inflammatory drugs and other medications. 
Tennant says the DEA effectively forced him into retirement by refusing to drop the case.   
“You can’t do the kind of work I do and operate in legal uncertainty,” Tennant said. "You’ve got to have legal backing to treat these individuals. And I don’t know what the law is anymore.”
‘Many Patients Will Die’
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