Rush cries foul play when he is treated like the average idiot who listens to him:Rush Records Seized
by Joal Ryan
Dec 4, 2003, 4:45 PM PT
eonline.com
The fresh-from-rehab Rush Limbaugh is being taken on "a fishing expedition."
And, no, he'd rather not go.
The nationally syndicated radio host, reading from a lawyer-approved statement, told his audience Thursday that authorities in Florida had seized medical records from four of his doctors--"an invasion of privacy no citizen of this public should endure."
Hours later, as Limbaugh warned, search warrants were filed. Two were served at offices in Florida, with two others pending, CNN reported. The warrants accuse Limbaugh of "doctor shopping," or going around from M.D. to M.D., collecting prescriptions along the way.
Florida's Palm Beach State Attorneys Office has had a keen interest in the bellicose broadcaster since a former housekeeper, Wilma Cline, reportedly told officials she acted as the go-between in a Denny's parking lot and other exotic locales to score prescription drugs, including the so-called "hillbilly heroin," OxyContin, for her famed employer.
Limbaugh maintained again Thursday that he is not, and has never been, the target of a drug probe.
At the same time, he allowed he is a "case" as far as the Palm Beach State Attorneys Office is concerned, and that "what should be a responsible investigation is looking more and more like a fishing expedition."
The statement, credited to Limbaugh's attorney Roy Black, an A-list litigator whose former clients include Camelot scion William Kennedy Smith, was meant as a preemptive strike. It said Black had been informed Palm Beach investigators intended to go public with the taking of the medical records from Limbaugh's doctors, one of whom CNN reported was based in Los Angeles.
Limbaugh's team promised there will be no bombshells in the medical records.
"What these records will show is that I suffered extreme pain and had legitimate reasons for taking pain medication," Limbaugh said on air Thursday.
The warrants, however, allege Limbaugh played doctor off doctor to collect thousands of prescription pills, violating "the spirit" of Florida law.
Limbaugh checked into rehab on October 10, a week after his gig as an ESPN football commentator was ended by a racial-tinged controversy. He said he'd become hooked on prescription painkillers as far back as 1995 following herniated-disc surgery. He said he'd twice before undergone treatment, and twice before gone back to the pills. His third rehab stint--five weeks at an undisclosed location--ended in mid-November.
The 52-year-old returned to his radio show November 17, admitting that up until the most recent treatment he "was a drug addict" who was "powerless" to reign in his habit.
On Thursday, Limbaugh read Black's statement on air twice--"I just wanted to be sure you heard it first from me"--before returning to the business of making fun of Democrats, environmentalists and the like.
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