HAVERFORD TWP., Pa. -
"Unbearable. I wouldn't be able to function."
That's Mike Bauder, a Philadelphia man describing what life would be like without the prescription pain medication he takes every day, to deal with the debilitating back pain stemming from a 1987 car accident.
But Bauder is on the verge of doing without that medication.
Nearly a decade ago, Bauder says he began seeing Dr. Jeffrey Bado for his back pain.
More recently, Bauder traveled to Bado's Lancaster Ave. office in Haverford Township.
But last Wednesday, the FBI raided Comprehensive Pain Consultants and removed records.
The place was closed down and remains locked up tight.
Bauder couldn't reach Dr. Bado, nor could FOX 29.
Bauder's reaction, when he saw the news reports on the raid?
"Am I going to have a doctor? So, now I'm calling up doctors' offices, and they say they need my medical records. I don't have the last eight to 10 years worth of medical records because Dr. Bado had them."
In fact, Bauder learned the FBI has them.
So, he called the bureau.
Bauder told FOX 29's Bruce Gordon that the call got him nowhere. The person on the phone seemed particularly unsympathetic.
"And I'm asking them for my medical records," Bauder said. They said, 'That's evidence.'"
Bauder keeps his prescription pain medication locked away, in a large safe. He has just daily doses left. Without his medical records, he can't get a new doctor. Without a new doctor, he'll soon run out of pills.
"I wouldn't be able to function," he said, choking back tears. "I would be laying in the chair, screaming 90 percent of the day."
Gordon called the FBI around midday Friday. By late Friday afternoon, Bauder had a call back from the bureau, telling him to come down to their offices next week -- with identification -- to see about getting a copy of his medical records.
Mike now has a glimmer of hope that relief may soon be on the way. FOX 29 is getting results!
