Tuesday, July 12, 2005 | 11:05 a.m.
A local doctor whose medical license was recently suspended allegedly prescribed narcotics to a woman who ran her car off a highway and into two workers last year, killing one and injuring another.
Henderson resident Patricia Copening, 37, faces felony charges including driving under the influence causing death for the vehicle crash last year that killed 21-year-old Gregory Sanchez Jr. and left Robert Martinez with serious injuries.
Dr. Doyle Stuart Steele allegedly kept feeding Copening's pill addiction even after she went through drug rehab, according to a lawsuit that names them both.
Copening told troopers at the scene of the crash that she was taking medications prescribed by Steele. She allegedly failed sobriety tests and was arrested on the spot.
Steele's license was suspended by the state Board of Medical Examiners last week based on allegations that the Las Vegas obstetrician-gynecologist improperly prescribed excessive amounts of narcotic medications to patients, one of whom he was allegedly having sex with.
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Investigation Division of the state Public Safety Department are investigating Steele, department spokeswoman Kimberly Evans said.
Copening was driving her Dodge Durango south on U.S. 95 near the Flamingo Road off-ramp at 4 p.m. on Friday, June 6, 2004, according to a Nevada Highway Patrol report on the incident.
A witness to the crash saw Copening swerving wildly and sped up to avoid her. Copening appeared maniacal, the witness told troopers: She was "laughing and holding her steering wheel very tight shaking it back and forth very scary."
According to the report, Copening then veered off the highway, rammed two Airborne Express vans parked on the right shoulder, ran over a road sign and came to rest atop a dirt embankment about 300 feet from the vans.
Martinez was the driver of one of the Airborne Express vans. A few minutes before, he had radioed the dispatch center, "Yo my tire blew," and Sanchez had come to his aid in the other van.
When Copening plowed into the two vans, the vans hit the two drivers standing nearby, according to the patrol report. Sanchez was pronounced dead at the scene. Martinez suffered a broken leg as well as shoulder and head injuries, according to the lawsuit.
When troopers interviewed Copening, she "appeared to be confused, and was unaware of what was occurring." She didn't know what year it was and said she couldn't remember what had just happened. Her eyes were bloodshot and glassy, according to the patrol report. She staggered and swayed through field sobriety tests.
Copening told troopers she took medications for migraines prescribed by Steele, but she said he was not her doctor. Several bottles of prescription drugs -- including the muscle relaxant Soma, the painkiller Lortab and anti-anxiety drug Xanax -- were found in her car. A drug test found the opiate hydrocodone -- an active ingredient in pain medications such as Vicodin and Lortab -- in Copening's system.
Copening worked as a receptionist for Steele and his former business partner, Dr. Richard Groom. Both doctors and Copening are named in the lawsuit brought by Martinez and Sanchez's families alleging negligence and wrongful death.
In court filings, the doctors and Copening have denied the allegations in the lawsuit. Among other things, their lawyers claim Sanchez and Martinez were to blame for standing on the shoulder of the highway.
Investigators found that Copening's driver's license had been suspended because she had had a seizure a year earlier.
Copening is scheduled to be arraigned next month. Copening's criminal lawyer, James Leavitt, said the proceedings have been delayed for more than a year because of the lengthy evidence-gathering process required in such a complex case.
Chief Deputy District Attorney L.J. O'Neale did not return repeated phone calls seeking information about the criminal case and the reasons why it took more than a year for Copening to be arraigned.
Leavitt said it was a seizure, not drugs, that caused Copening's erratic driving. He pointed to a witness's statement to troopers that, prior to the crash, Copening was "bouncing ... in her seat like she was having a convulsion."
Despite the previous seizure that led to suspension of her driver's license, Copening had been cleared to drive again by a neurologist, Leavitt said. Noting that Copening's episode appeared to come on suddenly, Leavitt said she began to see spots and tried to get out of traffic by heading for the shoulder.
"This is absolutely tragic. No one is suggesting anything otherwise," Leavitt said. "But it was a medical event that precipitated this. It wasn't the prescription medications or the amount of prescription medications."
However, Groom, Steele's former business partner, told investigators that Copening had previously been admitted to a local rehabilitation center for drug abuse. Groom said he thought she'd been clean since her release from rehab.
Groom said Steele had moved out of their shared office three years earlier, and Copening continued to work as Groom's receptionist.
In an affidavit attached to the lawsuit, forensic medical expert Dr. Michael Karagiozis states that, based on the evidence, Copening was addicted to prescription painkillers and that Steele and Groom acted unethically in prescribing them to her.
The night before the crash, Copening told her half-sister she had taken "hydro" and "narco" before going to sleep, the sister told detectives. The sister said Copening had never been Steele's patient but was getting medications from him. The sister also said Steele had a "fling" with an ex-employee to whom he also prescribed large amounts of opiates.
Copening's crash and the statements authorities obtained afterward about Steele triggered the state Board of Medical Examiners investigation that led to the suspension of his Nevada medical license.
The board's complaint charges that Steele prescribed excessive amounts of narcotics to three patients and had sexual relations with one of them. It was not clear whether that patient, whose name is withheld from the board's complaint, is the former employee described by Copening's sister.
The licensing board had investigated Steele before. In 2001, a complaint was filed alleging malpractice with regard to his surgical methods. But the board found Steele not guilty and dismissed the charge.
According to the board's Web site, Steele also was sued for malpractice in a case that alleged he botched a surgical procedure. The case was settled for $368,000.
Steele's attorney in the licensing proceeding, Ronald Logar of Reno, and his attorney in the civil case, Phillip Emerson, both declined to comment.
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