A pain clinic whose administrator had his medical license revoked in 2011 and whose two principal doctors had their licenses yanked by the state in late 2016, is closing its doors at 28 E. Burlington St. in downtown Riverside.
A woman answering the phone at Riverside Pain Management on March 9 confirmed that the location was closing but declined to offer any other details. It’s unclear whether the pain clinic is moving to another location or closing altogether.
Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel told the Landmark that the Riverside location was slated to close for good on March 10. An officer patrolling the business district on March 6 went into the clinic and asked about its status, Weitzel said. The receptionist reportedly told the officer that the clinic “had lost all of our doctors.”
Over the weekend, residents reported people hauling boxes and other items out of the clinic.
When it moved to Riverside in 2013 from Melrose Park, the clinic was under a cloud but kept a low profile. The previous year, in 2012, one of the prescribing doctors, Dr. Paul C. Madison, had been indicted by federal authorities for allegedly submitting millions of dollars in false medical bills to insurance companies. The case is still pending.
The clinic’s office manager is Dr. Joseph Giacchino, who was stripped of his medical license in 2011 for improperly prescribing controlled substances and offering medications to patients in exchange for sex.
The federal DEA, meanwhile, clearly has had Riverside Pain Management in its sights. In late 2016, both Madison and the clinic’s other prescribing physician, Dr. William McMahon, had their licenses pulled by the state for improperly prescribing controlled substances.
McMahon’s license has since been made permanently inactive. Madison in December 2016 filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court to have the suspension of his medical license reversed. That case is pending.
In the state’s petitions to suspend the licenses of McMahon and Madison’s licenses, officials referred to statements made by confidential DEA informants.
Also in December 2016, Madison turned up as an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal criminal lawsuit filed in Massachusetts against executives of a drug company that marketed the powerful opioid fentanyl to pain doctors, allegedly offering thousands of dollars in fees for sham speaking events in exchange for prescribing the drug, which was supposed to be used only to treat breakthrough cancer pain.
Separately, both Giacchino and Madison are being sued for libel. A man named Konstantine Ress filed the complaint, which seeks damages in excess of $30,000, in August 2016, and the matter appears to be headed for trial. The next hearing date in the case is set for March 30.
A call to Ress’ attorney seeking more information on that case was not returned.
The building at 28 E. Burlington St. is owned by Hatem Galal, a retired physician. He did not return a call from the Landmark seeking comment for this story. When he moved into the office in January 2013, Giacchino told the Landmark that his lease was for five years, “with options.”
