Phillippe Astin, M.D., the family physician who prescribed anabolic steroids to Chris Benoit in the year prior to the Benoit double murder-suicide, is going to trial on March 16, 2009. Many will be surprised to learn that in the final 175-count federal indictment, there is not a single charge related to anabolic steroids. Press coverage demonized Dr. Phil Astin as the doctor who prescribed steroids to Chris Benoit. If steroids were to blame for the Benoit tragedy, the evil doctor who gave them to Benoit must also be held responsible.
Federal prosecutors, who initially felt the prescribing of steroids was a “major issue” in the Astin case, decided against steroid distribution charges in the revised indictment. Perhaps they concluded, upon the advice of the Georgia Chief Medical Examiner, that there was insufficient evidence to support the illegal prescribing of steroids. Instead, Phil Astin faces charges of distributing and dispensing approximately one million dosage units of painkillers and stimulants classified as controlled substances, including Percocet, Oxycontin, Demerol, Lorcet, Ritalin, Vicodin, Xanax, Klonipin, Methadone, Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine and Soma “for other than a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of professional practice. “
The media chose to demonize anabolic steroids while (purposefully) ignoring the fact that the Benoit household was the recipient of almost 15,000 dosage units** of Lorcet, Soma and Xanax prescribed by the dubious Dr. Astin over a 30 month period. This would supply an average of 15 pills per day.
The media’s main storyline, consistent with the contemporary steroid hysteria, revolved around the scientifically unsupported belief that anabolic steroids caused “roid rage” which ultimately resulted in the tragic Benoit murder-suicide. The media was quick to find statements that they could incorporate into this storyline.
DEA Diversion Investigator Anissa Jones identified Chris Benoit as an “excess purchaser of injectable steroids” during a federal investigation of Rx Weight Loss in Marietta, Georgia. Prescription records obtained from Jones Pharmacy in Fayetteville, Georgia indicate that Dr. Phil Astin prescribed a 10-month supply of testosterone cypionate to Chris Benoit every 3-4 weeks from May 4, 2006 to May 9, 2007. A 10-month supply was never specifically defined in terms of the actual amount of testosterone cypionate involved.
Furthermore, the media grossly misinterpreted the Benoit toxicology results to support their preconceived hypothesis that steroids/roid rage caused the murder-suicide. The 59:1 testosterone/epitestosterone ratio was erroneously cited to support the assertion that Chris Benoit’s testosterone levels were 10 times the normal amount of testosterone; the ratio exceeds anti-doping thresholds of 6:1 but that has no relation to actual testosterone levels. Benoit’s urinary testosterone was only slightly elevated at 207 ng/ml (compared to anti-doping thresholds of 200 ng/ml testosterone glucuronide); the T:E ratio was 59:1 primarily due to extremely low levels of epitestosterone glucuronide (“Chris Benoit Toxicology Report,” July 17, 2007).
Now, finally, we analyzed the urine of Chris Benoit for the presence of steroids, and the only steroid drug that we found was testosterone, and this was measured at a level of 207 micrograms per liter.
Now, along with other analyses that were done in the urine, we were able to ascertain that this level of testosterone indicates that he had been using testosterone at least within some reasonably short period of time prior to the time that he died, depending on how it was that it was injected, in the form that it was used, this would produce this level in the urine. There were no other steroid or artificial steroid-like drugs that were found in his urine.
According to steroid and doping expert Dr. Michael Scally, of the biopharmaceutical company HPT/Axis, an elevated T:E ratio can only tell us that exogenous testosterone was used and provides no information about testosterone blood levels or the testosterone application dosage or frequency (“Did David Jacobs Autopsy Actually Reveal Elevated Testosterone Levels?,” August 7, 2008).
It is not possible to accurately determine the testosterone dose or serum testosterone level from the testosterone-epitestosterone ratio or the urine testosterone level… [A]ny attempt to extrapolate this ratio to an amount administered is futile.
This information was available to the media when the toxicology results were initially release at the official press conference. But the media largely ignored the expert Dr. Kris Sperry, the chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who urged caution in the interpretation stating that the available evidence did not support a link between steroids and roid rage (“Transcript: Georgia Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kris Sperry – Chris Benoit Toxicology Report,” July 17, 2007).
All right, well, the level was elevated, and the measurement was done in the urine because this is routinely the way that steroid and testosterone-like drugs are measured in — by looking at the urine, and especially in post-mortem samples or samples taken from individuals who are deceased, there’s almost no information regarding any kind of blood levels that are ever done for drugs like this. […]
All that can be told from this is that the level is elevated and the degree of elevation and the ratio of the testosterone to one of the other drugs, the breakdown product called Epitestosterone, the elevated ratio which we found to be 59, that is an indicator that he had been injecting testosterone. But how much, how frequently, how often, and for how long is something that cannot be answered through this. […]
The abnormal elevation in the range is an indicator that he was injecting the testosterone. But the number or the quantity of that ratio really is irrelevant with respect to anything affecting behavior, the psychology of an individual, things like that.
Why? Well, because no one really knows. That’s what I’m getting to. The scientific data where individuals have been given these drugs and their various levels have been monitored and analyzed, and the long and short of it is, that ratio does not — an elevation of that ratio does not translate to something abnormal in a person’s thought processes or behavior. […]
Now, with respect to the testosterone, this is a question that basically no one knows the answer to. There is conflicting scientific data as to whether or not testosterone creates mental disorders or leads to outbursts of rage. There’s data that suggests it, other data that refute it. Essentially, I think it’s an unanswerable question. […]
[T]he evidence that although testosterone was found in Christopher Benoit’s urine, there was no evidence of any other of the illegal types of steroids or the whole laundry list of anabolic steroids that are out there to be used. And actually, it’s — although there’s information that may exist out there regarding any medical conditions Chris Benoit may have had. The presence of the testosterone alone even could be an indicator that he was being treated for testicular insufficiency.
Why listen to experts when the media has their own preconceived opinions in the matter? The use of testosterone by Chris Benoit was, medically and legally, a minor aspect of the case. The egregious overprescribing of painkillers by Benoit’s family physician was overshadowed by the media’s obsession with anabolic steroids. Even the feds, who have shown a propensity for going after minor steroid distribution cases, chose to ignore the steroid issue when prosecuting Dr. Phil Astin.
** Chris Benoit was prescribed 5,580 tablets of Lorcet (10mg), 3,600 tablets of Xanax (2mg), and 1380 tablets of Soma (350mg) over a period of approximately 30 months between December 13, 2004 and June 22, 2007. Nancy Benoit was prescribed 3,690 tablets of Lorcet (10mg), 600 tablets of Xanax (2mg) and 240 tablets of Soma (350mg) between June 6, 2005 and May 30, 2007.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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