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And getting any information out of them is like pulling teeth..................bada boom

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A hearing before any board can be a daunting process, but a hearing before the Board of Dentistry sounds downright painful.

Dentist accused of phony prescriptions for his girlfriend

Friday, June 19, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

A Jersey City dentist, who is a councilman and former mayor in Livingston, allegedly prescribed nearly 1,900 doses of painkillers to his girlfriend and faces possible suspension or revocation of his dentist's license, officials said.

Gary S. Schneiderman allegedly issued 1,880 doses of Percocet and 13 doses of Oxycontin to his girlfriend, who was not his patient, and in some cases used the prescription pad of another dentist to avoid detection, state Division of Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman said in a press release.


"The misuse of prescription pain killers endangers the public," Attorney General Anne Milgram said about Schneiderman, whose practice is on Bergen Avenue, off Journal Square. "Dr. Schneiderman violated the trust placed in him as a member of the medical community. He cannot be allowed to remain in practice."

The complaint filed against Schneiderman with the state Dentistry Board also accuses him of providing blank prescriptions to the girlfriend, with the knowledge that she would use them to obtain highly addictive painkillers, officials said.

But last night the lawyer representing Schneiderman, who was mayor of the township last year and teaches at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, said it was his client who contacted the state Dentistry Board in 2005 saying the woman stole a prescription pad.

"He did write some (prescriptions) in the beginning, but it's not true that he gave her blank prescriptions but that she stole the prescription pad," said attorney David Lustbader of Livingston. "It only involved one person who is not a patient and there is no longer any involvement between them. All of that was over in 2005."

Lustbader said on June 5 he sent a letter to the director of the board saying he wanted to continue negotiating to resolve the matter when "the next thing that happened was they sent out a press release."

"The board didn't know anything about this," said Lustbader. Schneiderman "felt the right thing to do was to contact them. If he hadn't, I don't think anybody would have ever known, but that's the way he is."

Lustbader said Schneiderman voluntarily stopped prescribing narcotics after notifying the board.

Lustbader said Schneiderman, who is married and has children, has no intention of giving up his elected position. Schneiderman faces no criminal charges.

The state is also seeking civil penalties against Schneiderman and reimbursement of its legal and investigative costs, officials said. A hearing before the Dentistry Board is in the process of getting scheduled, officials said.