“You can’t do the kind of work I do and operate in legal uncertainty,” Tennant said. "You’ve got to have legal backing to treat these individuals. And I don’t know what the law is anymore.”

‘Many Patients Will Die’

This was a difficult day for Tennant's patients -- as many see their lives dependent on his continued care and treatment.

“I believe many of Dr. Tennant’s patients will die because they will never find another doctor to treat their painful condition,” says Gary Snook, a Tennant patient who lives with adhesive arachnoiditis, a painful and incurable inflammation in his spinal nerves. “I haven't decided if I will even look for another doctor, nobody will take a patient like me. And to be honest with you, I am tired of looking, tired of being treated like an addict, tired of being treated like a curiosity and nothing more, not a human being with a serious health issue that deserves to be treated.

"I am completely devastated for myself and my family, for Dr. Tennant and Miriam, for his patients and their families, and for all those who could have benefited from his continued breakthrough treatments and research," said Denise Molohon, another Tennant patient who lives with arachnoiditis, in an email.

"But I am most deeply saddened today for the entire chronic pain community - both patients and providers - for the tsunami of injustices perpetrated by DOJ/DEA and CDC in their cruelty, ignorance and haste to appear as though they are fighting the opioid overdose epidemic by ruining the lives of many innocent physicians. Their combined actions have had the tragic result of harming untold millions and leading to the senseless, needless deaths of patients all across our country whose only fault was suffering from horrific, intractable pain."

"The government has stepped in and stopped doctors from treating patients. They have created a hostile work environment for physicians who refuse to conform. Physicians who refuse to let their patients suffer. Addiction is a huge problem but so is intractable pain, yet those of us who play by the rules are the ones who suffer," said Kate Lamport, a Tennant patient who has arachnoiditis.

"Dr. Tennant and Mrs. Tennant have been a Godsend to all whom have crossed their paths and will never be forgotten by the thousands of lives they have touched and saved. Our blood is not on their hands, it is on the hands of those who have taken Dr. Tennant and every other doctor from us by way of fear."

“Forest and Miriam treated me like a son as they did all their family, their patients. They did their best to take care of us," added Snook. "How could any doctor do so and pay $1,000 an hour in legal fees just to defend himself from false charges from the DEA?”

Tennant is referring all of his patients to new doctors, but in an age when many physicians are afraid of prescribing opioids, its unlikely they'll find similar care elsewhere. Tennant has operated his pain clinic basically as a charity for years and charged patients little, if anything. He and his wife live modestly, and drive cars that are nearly 30 years old.

“They (the DEA) think my clinic has been operated to make a great deal of money. Some years it loses money. The last two years, it actually lost money. We subsidize it,” Tennant explained.

‘Highly Suspicious’ Prescribing

One medical professional who has been critical of Tennant's prescribing practices is Dr. Timothy Munzing, a Kaiser Permanente family practice physician who was hired by the DEA to review Tennant’s prescriptions.