Ex-Lake Co. doctor admits guilt in fatal overdoses

A former Highland Park physician pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lake County Circuit Court to over-prescribing painkilling drugs that were linked to three patient deaths and also wound up on the black market.

Gerald Kane, 76, was placed on probation for 30 months after pleading guilty to felony reckless conduct.

Kane, a former orthopedic surgeon who surrendered his license in 2007, admitted prescribing massive doses of the painkillers Vicodin and Oxycodone for patients between 2004 and 2007.

The drugs were contributing factors in the 2006 deaths of a 39-year-old Highwood man and a 45-year-old Highland Park man, and the 2007 death of a 47-year-old Buffalo Grove man.

Kane was charged last year with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, and Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller said investigators determined there was insufficient evidence to file more serious charges against him in connection with the deaths.

Officials of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Kane's prescription writing after family members of his patients and pharmacists throughout the area raised questions about the dosages.

His license to prescribe drugs was revoked by the DEA after it was determined his prescriptions were "outside the scope of normal medical practice," Scheller said.

He said one patient was given prescriptions for 540 tablets of Oxycodone over five days, when most doctors prescribe no more than five doses of the drug per day.

Officials found several incidents in which people who were receiving drugs from Kane were giving or selling them to other people, Scheller said.

Scheller said he agreed to reduce the charge against Kane to reckless conduct in exchange for the guilty plea.

He said he had consulted the family members of the victims and they had agreed to the negotiation.

Circuit Judge Fred Foreman imposed the probationary term and ordered Kane to make a $3,000 contribution to the Lake County drug court program and $1,000 contributions to Lake County Crime Stoppers and the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center.