Philip Eil |
Journalist and author, "Prescription for Pain: How A Once Promising Doctor Became the ‘Pill Mill Killer’ "
1. You’re a Rhode Island-based journalist. The focus of your book “Prescription for Pain” is Paul Volkman, a doctor convicted and given life sentences for operating a “pill mill” in Ohio. How did you get involved in this project? Paul Volkman went to college and medical school with my dad, Dr. Charles Eil, who has practiced endocrinology for decades in Providence and Fall River. … They mostly fell out of touch after med school, but my dad unexpectedly heard from Volkman in 2008, a year after Volkman’s indictment. And when I learned about the case, I found the mystery irresistible.
2. Did you know right away you would write a book about Volkman? I knew early on that this was a big story, though I wasn’t quite sure what form it would take. Over time, as I saw how many components and characters and complex issues were involved, I came to see it as a book. But, all told, it took me more than a decade to build up the confidence and journalistic skill, and to gather the information, to complete that book.
3. How prevalent were these pill mill schemes across the country? Are they still happening? The region where Volkman’s crimes took place – Appalachian Ohio, near the Kentucky and West Virginia borders – was a hot spot for these kinds of pill mills. So was Florida. Both states, and others, have since passed laws to close loopholes that allowed such clinics to operate. So, the problem isn’t as bad as it once was.
4. What do you hope readers will take away from your book? If there’s one thing I want to highlight, it’s that there are real people behind the faceless statistics about opiate-epidemic deaths. With my reporting and writing about Volkman’s deceased patients, I wanted, if possible, to restore some of the humanity that’s lost when we grow accustomed to a yearslong deadly crisis like this. In other words, I wanted to re-sensitize readers to things they had become desensitized to.
5. This book was years in the making. Are you ready to tackle another one, and what might the subject be? Absolutely. My research for this book involved use of the Freedom of Information Act, which, in turn – and with the help of the Rhode Island ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc.] and two local pro-bono attorneys – led to an FOIA lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration. Through that lengthy process, I got interested in the FOIA. … For my next book, I’d love to write an engaging history of the law for a general audience.
