Addicted Doctor Faces Drug Trial, Loss of License : Drugs: A Fullerton physician with a 30-year practice admits longtime abuse of prescription stimulant Ritalin. ‘I’ve been through hell,’ he says.

State medical authorities are seeking to revoke the license of a Fullerton doctor who has practiced for more than 30 years in Orange County and who, by his own admission, has been a drug addict for more than half that time.

Dr. Richard A. Romig, 62, described as a respected, popular and kindly physician in court affidavits and interviews, is also facing 22 criminal counts of writing fraudulent or improper prescriptions to obtain the stimulant Ritalin for his own use.

A temporary restraining order barring Romig from practicing medicine was issued Monday by Orange County Superior Court Judge W.F. Rylaarsdam at the request of the state attorney general’s office and the Medical Board of California.

“Evidence of Dr. Romig’s ‘out of control behavior’ is overwhelming . . . ,” Dr. J. Thomas Ungerleider, a psychiatrist hired by state authorities to review the allegations, stated in a letter presented to the court. “When a physician is involved in dysfunctional drug use his behavior is clearly a danger to his patients (as well as to himself and the general public if he is driving his car).”

Romig allegedly taped tablets to the inside of desk drawers and would leave his office in the middle of visits with patients. He also used the name of a patient before and after the person’s death on fraudulent prescriptions he filled at 45 pharmacies throughout the county, according to court affidavits.

In an interview Wednesday, Romig acknowledged his drug addiction but said he was “much better off” since his April 20 arrest and hoped to eventually resume his practice. Romig said he has been praying and meditating, seeing a psychiatrist and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for the past few months. An administrative hearing on whether to revoke his license is scheduled for Aug. 8.

“I’ve been through hell . . . . Once you’re an addict you’re always an addict,” Romig said in a telephone interview, speaking almost inaudibly. “We’re getting calls every day from patients. I’ve been in practice 30 years. They’re going to be very upset but I hope they understand.”

Investigators said Romig, an internist and former member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps, admitted to taking as many 200 tablets per day of Ritalin when he became addicted to the drug in the early 1970s. The recommended daily dosage of the drug--most commonly used to treat hyperactivity in children--is two to three tablets per day, according to medical authorities.

Romig’s addiction first came to the attention of the state Medical Board in 1973. After an investigation, he was placed on five years’ probation and referred to a drug treatment program. Romig said Wednesday that he quit taking the drug for 16 years but resumed taking 30 to 60 tablets daily sometime last year. He twice admitted himself to drug treatment programs but failed to kick the habit, Romig said.

Romig said he first became addicted to Ritalin while treating a patient with a rare disorder. Romig said he dispensed the drug to the patient in his office and began taking it himself for depression.

A court affidavit filed by Spring Robbins, an investigator with the state Bureau of Narcotics, quotes Romig as saying he resumed taking the drug because of pain from a pinched nerve and depression brought on, in part, by marital problems.

“He said he started taking Ritalin again because of the chronic pain and being burned out from treating sick patients all the time,” Robbins said in the affidavit. “He stated that Ritalin gave him a pleasant effect, lifted his fatigue and was a mild aphrodisiac.”

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Theresa Hicks, who is prosecuting Romig on the criminal charges, said he could face up to seven years in prison on all 22 counts. Hicks said, however, that if Romig is convicted she would probably ask for probation rather than a prison term.

“This isn’t a state prison case in that he was only hurting himself,” Hicks said. “He was very addicted to the drug.”