Three more people have died — two on the same day this month — of suspected drug overdoses while under the care of a Plantation pain management center, according to police and medical examiner records.

One was a patient of Dr. Mitchell Wick, an osteopathic physician who left the center in July. Earlier that month, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel had disclosed a pattern of overdose deaths among the center’s clients.

Two other patients, both of whom died in their homes on Aug. 11, were under the treatment of Dr. Gary Mallow, who is identified in state records as the owner of the pain management and weight-loss practice at 8251 W. Broward Blvd.

Wick could not be reached for comment. Mallow’s lawyer, Steven Ballinger, said Mallow was in no way responsible for either patient’s death.

“It is very unfair to imply that anything about Mallow’s treatment contributed to their demise. He practices very good medicine,” Ballinger said.

In July, the Sun-Sentinel reported that drugs prescribed by Wick had been found at the scene of 16 deaths reviewed by the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office since mid-1999, many of them accidental overdoses.

Some of Wick’s patients also had been seeing other doctors or were using illegal drugs such as heroin or cocaine when they died. Most had been prescribed narcotic painkillers such as hydrocodone by Wick, often with anti-anxiety medicines such as Xanax, the newspaper found.

No other doctor or medical center’s name has surfaced as often in suspected overdose cases investigated by medical examiners in recent years, according to the newspaper’s review of autopsy reports in a seven-county area of South Florida.

Officials won’t know for certain the causes of the latest three deaths until they complete toxicology studies, which could take three months or more. However, authorities suspect each was related to abuse of drugs.

Wick treated Richard Dean, 36, of Davie, whose body was found in a Plantation apartment on June 21. An acquaintance told police that he allowed Dean to spend the night after he showed up about 3 a.m. “under the influence of something.” The man said he found Dean dead later that night, according to police reports.

A history of drug abuse

Two days before his death, Dean filled prescriptions from Wick for hydrocodone and Xanax. Wick also wrote prescriptions to Dean for a weight-loss drug, which he did not fill and which were found in his wallet.

Dean had a lengthy history of drug abuse and rehab treatments, according to his family. A former construction worker, Dean was living on disability payments and keeping appointments with other physicians besides Wick.

For instance, he obtained hydrocodone from two other doctors, one in February and the other in late May, pill vials found in his apartment by family members and examined by the Sun-Sentinel show.

The two other pain center patients who died this month filled prescriptions written by Mallow shortly before they died, according to police records.

One was Terry Oplinger, 53, who lived in Tamarac. Mallow prescribed Xanax for him on Aug. 8, records show.

Oplinger died three days later at home, after his wife found him “shaking” in bed. His wife told police her husband was taking too many of the pills, that he had been drinking heavily and that she thought he had overdosed. She also told an investigator her husband was Wick’s patient until he left the practice and Mallow took charge of his care.

Maria Rivera, 52, of Sunrise, also died on Aug. 11. Her mother found her lying on the bed in her master bedroom, not breathing, “cold to the touch” with blood coming from her mouth, according to Sunrise Police Department records.

Mallow prescribed 350-milligram pills of carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant, for Rivera, who filled the prescription the day before she died. She was to take one of the pills every eight hours, according to police records.

Records show that 18 of the 40 tablets in the bottle were missing, leading police to believe that Rivera may have exceeded the recommended dosage.

Her mother, Sylvia Echlov, agreed. She said her daughter, who was on disability, had a long history of abusing drugs from doctors and, in past years, street drugs.

“This is a legal way for them to get drugs when they want them,” Echlov said.

Dean’s mother, Adriana Dean, said she understands her son had a drug problem, but she blames doctors for feeding his habit and state Department of Health investigators for failing to police the medical profession adequately.

“These doctors are taking advantage of the sick,” she said. “My question is why are we being so loose and lenient.”

Clinics, deaths skyrocket

Pain management in recent years has grown explosively in Florida, where hundreds of doctors and clinics advertise the services and often dispense large quantities of narcotics with little state oversight.

With that growth has come a rise in overdose deaths. A Sun-Sentinel investigation published in May documented nearly 400 such deaths in a seven-county area of South Florida in the past two years.

Health department investigators began reviewing medical records of Wick’s patients after the newspaper revealed the 16 deaths.

Under state law, the department has the power to issue an emergency suspension of a medical license if it determines a physician represents a danger to the public.

Wick was the subject of a previous state investigation at the pain practice. State inspectors cited him in August 2000 for improperly storing prescription narcotics, among other infractions. He paid a $2,000 fine in May 2001 to settle the state’s civil complaint against him, according to state records.

In statements made in his defense, Wick said he was an employee of Mallow’s. Wick estimated that the office grossed $3,000 to $4,000 in patient fees daily and that he treated 50 to 70 patients in a day.

The drug he prescribed most for patients who said they were in pain was hydrocodone, Wick said. He also admitted in the statement that he sometimes overprescribed drugs.

Wick could not be reached, despite a phone message left at his home on Wednesday. In a previous interview, he said he had no control over the patients he saw or how the center was run.

Ballinger, Mallow’s attorney, disputed Wick’s claims. He said that Mallow took over care of Wick’s patients after Wick left the center. Mallow never supervised Wick’s care of patients at the pain center, Ballinger said, or reviewed his work.

Since taking over the practice, Mallow has discharged numerous patients whom he concluded were improperly seeking drugs, Ballinger said. The center also uses urine samples to screen patients for unauthorized drugs, and has taken other steps to prevent patients from seeing multiple physicians as a means to get drugs.

“He’s going above and beyond what other doctors are doing to prevent any abuse of drugs,” Ballinger said of Mallow. “He’s trying to clean things up.”

Fred Schulte can be reached at or 954-356-4591.