Dr. William Hurwitz playfully states his case in documentary about prescription painkiller addiction
DR. FEELGOOD: DEALER OR HEALER? (Eve Marson, 2016)
Cinema Village
22 East 12th St. between University Pl. & Fifth Ave.
Opens Friday, December 30
212-529-6799
www.cinemavillage.com
www.drfeelgoodfilm.com
There’s an odd element that runs through Eve Marson’s documentary Dr. Feelgood: Dealer or Healer? In nearly every new interview with film subject Dr. William Hurwitz, whose treatment of chronic pain included prescribing sometimes tens of thousands of opioids over a twelve-to-eighteen-month period for a single patient, the physician has a sly smile, as if this is all a kind of joke, or that he doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. “One of the best reasons to go into medical practice is to help people. When somebody comes to you and they feel their life is constrained by pain, the ability to relieve that pain gives enormous satisfaction,” he explains at the beginning of the film. And he is still very satisfied, despite the death of at least two of his patients, time in prison, and the loss of his medical license. The film points out that one in three Americans suffer from chronic pain and that more than 200 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers are written each year. Marson shows viewers several sides of the controversial topic, in interviews with Dr. Hurwitz’s daughter, Gabriela; his ex-wife, Nilse Quercia; his former nurse, Ann Wierbinski; his former receptionist, Georgia Tsourounis; his defense attorney, Lawrence Robbins; patients Molly Shaw, Bret McCarter, and Jane Tanner; pain-treatment expert Dr. Anna Lembke; FBI agent Aaron Weeter; retired Fairfax County police officer Ken Pedigo; New York Times journalist John Tierney; Paul Nye and Michaelina Woodson, who believe Dr. Hurwitz’s treatment killed their spouses; and retired physician Dr. Hal Talley, who points out, “We have never come up with a test that tells you whether somebody is in pain or not.”
The multiple perspectives reveal that there are no easy answers to this complex issue: Some see Dr. Hurwitz as an angel, while others are convinced he is a demon. Written by Mark Monroe and Sara Goldblatt and produced by Goldblatt and Marson, the film also includes archival footage, re-creations, and news reports, most notably from 60 Minutes. Through it all, Dr. Hurwitz, a Stanford grad, keeps wearing that grin, as if he thinks all of this detailed examination is rather beside the point. “I like taking care of people,” he says. That’s all well and good, but as Dr. Feelgood shows, addiction to painkillers is no laughing matter. The film opens December 30 at Cinema Village, with Marson participating in a Q&A following the 7:15 screening on January 2.