Courtesy of Cat Laine

Phillip Eil

Coming to an area heavily impacted by the opioid crisis is an opportunity to not only share knowledge, but to hear the stories of the locals, one debut-author and investigative journalist said.

Philip Eil, author of  “Prescription for Pain: How A Once Promising Doctor Became the Pill Mill Killer,” will launch his book tour across the Tri-State area on Oct. 3, with the first stop in Huntington, West Virginia. 

“It’s a story I’ve been following almost since the very beginning of my journalism career in 2009,” Eil said. 

The story delves into the rise and fall of Paul Volkman, a former Ohio doctor who illegally prescribed millions of doses of pain medication in the cities of Portsmouth and Chillicothe, Ohio. 

Eil said, “I was fascinated by this story of how a guy with really impressive credentials, an M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, winds up veering so far off the path that was laid out for him.” 

Eil went on to say the extreme charges against Volkman inspired him to take on the story as a young journalist.

“It was really the mystery and the raw facts of the story that struck me,” he said. “Even though I was entirely unprepared at the time, I still dove in.” 

Speaking with Volkman as he awaited his trial in Chicago was a compelling and unexpected voyage, the author said. 

“I was not prepared to take on the rest of the story, which involved telling the story of his whole career – including malpractice cases,” he said. 

Beyond speaking with Volkman, Eil said speaking with the family members of Volkman’s former patients who passed away was significant in putting the story in its proper context. 

Despite being a Rhode Island-native, carefully telling this Appalachian story remained of the utmost importance to him, Eil said. 

“I approach Appalachia with the utmost respect – not as somebody from here, but as somebody who, through a change of personal connection, wound up telling a really big story here,” he said.

In terms of Eil’s book tour, he said he plans to share the story with those most affected by it. 

“The opioid epidemic is a crisis,” he said. “It’s permeated every corner of the culture in southern Ohio and the broader region.” 

More so, Eil said his book event at Cicada Books provides him with the opportunity to hear from the people of Huntington and their perspectives. 

Eil will discuss his book and speak with locals at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, at Cicada Books. 

Kaitlyn Fleming can be contacted at [email protected].