Limbaugh Escapes Further Charge For Possessing Doctor’s Viagra
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Rush Limbaugh will not face criminal charges in Palm Beach County after authorities found he had a bottle of Viagra that was apparently prescribed to in his doctor’s name, prosecutors said yesterday.
Mr. Limbaugh, 55, was detained for more than three hours at Palm Beach International Airport on June 26 after he returned on his private plane from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Customs officials found Viagra in his bag, but his name wasn’t on the prescription, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The state attorney’s office said that Dr. Steve Strumwasser’s name was on the Viagra bottle, not Mr. Limbaugh’s.
Dr. Strumwasser, who is Mr. Limbaugh’s psychiatrist, told authorities he “agreed to have his name on the label in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing publicity for the suspect,” according to the state attorney’s office filing. “Thus, the medication contained in the subject pill bottle was legitimately prescribed to the suspect by his physician.”
It is generally not illegal under Florida law for a physician to prescribe medication in a third party’s name if all parties are aware and the doctor documents it correctly, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney, Mike Edmondson, said.
However, since the doctor wrote the prescription in Miami-Dade County, the case has been forwarded to prosecutors there for review.
Mr. Limbaugh’s lawyer, Roy Black, has said the prescription was written in Mr. Limbaugh’s doctor’s name “for privacy purposes.” The conservative radio host was released without being charged and investigators confiscated the Viagra, which treats erectile dysfunction.
“Based on the sworn facts presented by the investigating officer as well as the suspect, the elements of the offense cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” a Palm Beach County assistant state attorney, Paul Zacks, wrote in a filing yesterday.
The Palm Beach County state attorney’s office also said it has forwarded the matter to the state Department of Professional Regulation and the Department of Health to determine whether the doctor breached ethics.
