The Los Angeles Angels team physician prescribed more than 600 opioid pills over a half-decade to Eric Kay, the communications staffer who later gave Tyler Skaggs a counterfeit pill that led to the pitcher’s death, according to testimony on Wednesday, Nov. 5 in the ongoing wrongful death trial against the ball club.
Dr. Craig Milhouse acknowledged that he had prescribed 630 Norco and Vicodin pills to Kay from 2009 to 2015, based on information attorneys for Skaggs’ family pulled from a California Department of Justice database that tracks pharmacy prescriptions for controlled substances.
It was unclear from Milhouse’s testimony exactly why he prescribed Kay the pills.
Milhouse noted that patient confidentiality laws prevented him from going into specifics regarding his professional relationship with Kay. When asked generally what type of condition would lead to the type of prescriptions that Kay received, Milhouse referenced post traumatic pain from playing sports, citing back pain being a common example.
Those who knew Kay have testified that he suffered from depression, anxiety and potentially bipolar disorder. But no physical ailments Kay suffered that would require serious pain medication have been mentioned during the trial.
There has been no dispute during the current civil wrongful death trial that Kay — who is serving prison time for his role in Skaggs’ death — provided counterfeit pills to Skaggs and other Angels players.
Instead, the question an Orange County Superior Court jury will ultimately have to answer is whether the Angels were aware of Kay’s addiction and drug distribution issues prior to Skaggs’ July 2019 death in a Texas hotel room during a team road trip.
Milhouse — who has also served as a team physician for the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Rams and USC — testified that generally speaking, doctors in the time frame when he was prescribing pills to Kay were more likely to turn to opiates.
“At that time, I thought they were safer, I was not aware of how quickly someone could become addicted,” Milhouse said. “We knew there was the potential, but we had no idea how quickly someone could become addicted.”
“I think everyone is aware of what happened with the opioid crisis and how this is effecting so many people,” the doctor added. “We were all educated more about the dangers of it.”
In July 2015, Kay reached out to Milhouse and asked him for pills, using a slang term for Viagra, for an unnamed, then-current Angels player, adding that the player “is on the down low about it,” according to text messages shown in court.
Milhouse later texted Kay “All set” along with directions on how the player should take the Viagra medication. The doctor also texted Kay “What is your reward for this?” to which Kay responded “Your kidding right? These guys don’t get it. Thanks for do(ing) this. I have a ball for u.”
Milhouse testified that he reached out and spoke to the player directly during the text exchanges with Kay. It would be illegal for a controlled medication meant for one person to be prescribed under another person’s name, he added.
“This was the one and only time this occurred,” Milhouse said. “I was very surprised he did that. I told him that this was not how it works.”
Under questioning by a Skaggs family attorney, Milhouse acknowledged that he didn’t report the text exchange to then-Angels Vice President Tim Mead — Kay’s boss at the time — to Angels President John Carpino or to Major League Baseball.
“It wasn’t something I thought I needed to report,” Milhouse said.
“Going to you for prescription medication for a player wasn’t something you needed to report?” Attorney Daniel Dutko asked.
“Not after I spoke to him and told him it wasn’t going to happen,” Milhouse said.
During questioning by an attorney for the Angels, Milhouse said he is an independent contractor — not a team employee — and also has a private medical practice. Milhouse said it was common for employees who met him through his position with sports teams to seek treatment from him outside of work.
Attorneys for the Skaggs family — along with Kay’s ex-wife — have alleged that officials with the ball club were long aware of Kay’s opioid addiction and were aware of the drug connection between Kay and Skaggs prior to the 27-year-old pitchers death.
Kay’s ex-wife testified that at one point in 2013 — during the time frame when Milhouse acknowledged prescribing opioids to Kay — Kay admitted in front of Mead and Tom Taylor, a team traveling secretary, that he was taking five Vicodins a day. Mead has testified that he didn’t recall that conversation, while Taylor has denied that it happened.
Those who worked with Kay in the Angels communications department have denied being aware of his addiction to illegal drugs, instead testifying that they believed Kay was struggling with mental health and prescription drugs issues. But some former attendants who worked in the team clubhouse have testified that it was well known that Kay had a drug issue.
Earlier on Wednesday, Vincent Willet, a former clubhouse attendant with the Angels, recalled twice during Spring Training in Tempe, Arizona seeing Kay pull out a pill, crush it up and snort it with either a straw or a rolled up dollar bill. The first time was in a kitchen area at the team facilities, Willet said, the second was in a staff locker area next to a training room.
Willet also spoke in glowing terms about Skaggs, recalling the time he and his wife ran into Skaggs and his wife at a restaurant. The two couples ended up sharing a table, Willet said, and Skaggs picked up the bill.
“Probably one of the best people I’ve ever been around in a big league clubhouse,” Willet said of Skaggs. “Just an all-around nice guy who went out of the way to make you feel important, which is not always the case with Major League Baseball players when it came to clubhouse attendants.”
Attorneys for Skaggs’ family argue the decision by the Angels to allow someone they allegedly knew to be addicted to and distributing opioids resulted in Skaggs’ death. Attorneys for the Angels deny that team officials were aware of Kay’s drug issues or ties to Skaggs, and blame Skaggs’ death on the pitcher combining the pill Kay gave him containing fentanyl with oxycodone and alcohol.
Testimony in the wrongful death trial resumes Friday in a Santa Ana courtroom.