Rapid-Detox Procedure Is Safe, Doctors Using It Say

Doctors performing ultra rapid opiate detox around the nation say the procedure saves lives by getting addicts off drugs and is safe when performed by qualified anesthesiologists who provide careful follow-up.

Rapid-detox practitioners are distancing themselves from Lance Gooberman, the Merchantville, N.J., doctor whose use of rapid detox has been linked by state officials to the deaths of six patients.

Gooberman performed the procedure in his office and let patients leave shortly afterward. Since 1994, Gooberman and his partner, physician David Bradway, detoxed 2,150 people, a comparatively large number.

"He was doing fast-food detox," said Judy Ryon, a management consultant with CITA Biomedical, a public company that envisions ultra rapid detox as a multimillion-dollar business. Ryon noted that Gooberman, an internist and addiction specialist, isn't a qualified anesthesiologist.

CITA performs the procedure at hospitals in Illinois, Colorado and California.

Timothy McDonald, an anesthesiologist and a CITA consultant at a Chicago hospital, said none of the 50 patients he has treated with rapid opiate detox has experienced significant complications.

"I believe it's erroneous to assert that rapid detox cures anything," McDonald said. "The real treatment begins after the detoxification." The cost, which includes some follow-up treatment, is about $5,000 to $6,000. Gooberman charged much less.

Alma Saravia, attorney for Gooberman, defended the doctor's use of the procedure.

"At each point in Dr. Gooberman's work, after 100 patients, after 500 patients, he made the best judgment possible based on the medical literature at the time, the body of knowledge and his training," she said.

Proponents of rapid detox cite impressive statistics suggesting long-term rates of success. One CITA study found 57 percent of patients were drug-free less than two years after treatment, twice the rate of conventional detoxification and rehabilitation, the CITA study said.

Even at hospitals, rapid opiate detox has its critics.

"There's the general feeling that this has been launched into clinical practice without much research data backing it up," said Frank Vocci, a division director at the National Institute on Drug Addiction. A 1996 report by the institute said the procedure can result in heart and lung complications and is not medically justified. Vocci said risks are inherent with anesthesia.