A Florida administrative law judge is recommending that the state Board of Medicine throw out a complaint against Dr. John Christensen that stems from the 2007 overdose death of a 21-year-old Wellington man.

In a 44-page opinion released last week, Judge Patricia Hart found no evidence Christensen violated standards of medical care by prescribing powerful narcotics to Anthony Lauzerique when he came to the doctor’s West Palm Beach clinic, complaining of chronic and “unbearable” knee and back pain.

Christensen, who paid Lauzerique’s parents $250,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, said he was gratified by the decision. While the Board of Medicine could reject it when they consider whether to discipline him later this year, he said he was horrified to be accused of running a pill mill.

“I know there’s pill mills out there and they don’t care,” he said. “I care about my patients.”

Lauzerique’s mother, Jacque, said she was mystified by the decision.

“It’s just unbelievable they would find it was acceptable to prescribe Anthony that amount of drugs,” she said. “There was no medical reason. I just don’t believe they would find this unpunishable.”

Christensen also has been sued by the parents of two other patients who died of drug overdoses. He settled one of the lawsuits. The other is pending.

Hart said she believed Christensen was trying to wean Lauzerique from massive amounts of narcotics he claimed he had been taking for years.

When Lauzerique came to see Christensen in February 2007, he told him he was taking 60 to 90 tablets of Oxycontin, 400 to 600 tablets of Roxicodone, at least 200 tablets of methadone, 60 to 90 tablets of Xanax and three bottles of liquid Oxycontin monthly. Christensen immediately took away the Oxycontin and began reducing other painkillers that were part of his regimen, Hart wrote.

By May, Christensen was prescribing 60 tablets of methadone, 60 tablets of Xanax and 240 tablets of Roxicodone. Shortly before Lauzerique’s July 2007 death, Christensen had reduced his Roxicodone prescription to 180 a month, Hart wrote.

An expert hired by the Florida Department of Health, which filed eight charges against Christensen, claimed the amount of drugs Christensen was prescribing was “100 percent lethal, 100 percent of the time.”

Hart blasted claims by Dr. David Glener, a Port St. Lucie physician who is board certified in anesthesiology and pain management. She said he was biased and lacked credibility.

She also rejected his claims that Christensen didn’t determine if Lauzerique really suffered knee and back pain. She said Christensen, a chiropractor before he went to medical school, examined Lauzerique to corroborate his claims that he had multiple knee surgeries and looked at MRIs to confirm problems persisted.

Jacque Lauzerique said nothing was wrong with her son’s knee.

“The only thing wrong with Anthony was he had an addiction problem and he found somebody to give him pills,” she said.

Christensen said Lauzerique’s problems began long before he reached his office.

“I cared about Anthony. I was so happy with the progress he was making,” he said.

After Lauzerique’s death, Christensen said he learned he was getting drugs from another doctor. He said his attorneys advised him to settle the lawsuits even though he wanted to fight.

“I spent many sleepless, not just nights, but months,” he said. “Even now it still bothers me. It’s a horrible, horrible thing.”