Are CAR ACCIDENTS a major cause of Heroin addiction ?

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

carwreck

Surge in heroin use tied to prescription opioid abuse

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150818122002.htm

 

To combat both the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic the Obama administration announced a new $13.4 million program to curb access to both. The program will target illegal trafficking of the drugs in areas that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic, including Appalachia, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

Before moving to street-level trafficking, many prescription opioid addicts first try to obtain the drugs through pharmacies. Bree Watzak, PharmD, of the Texas A&M University Health Science Center says easy access to prescription opioids is largely behind this surge in use. Watzak says that prescription opioids appeal to addicts in a way that street drugs don’t. “If someone becomes addicted,” she says, “they can walk into a safe, clean store and use their insurance to purchase them, unlike street drugs.”

The CDC’s Vital Signs report also supports Watzak’s claims, finding both prescription opioid and heroin addiction is growing significantly among the affluent and people with private insurance, two groups that historically have had relatively low rates of abuse. According to the CDC, people in these groups tend to move on to heroin only after being cut off from prescription opioids. Watzak echoes the CDC’s findings. “We see that people tend to move on to street drugs after they’ve lost access to prescription opioids. It’s a progression,” she says. Reliable lawyers from precisioninjurylaw.com can help with any case and to help represent in court.

Watzak notes that most states have a prescription drug monitoring database that allows doctors and pharmacists to see if an individual is going to multiple doctors or pharmacies seeking prescriptions. “The law says we have a corresponding responsibility to make sure that medications are used for legitimate medical purposes,” says Watzak. “Pharmacists are trained to recognize red flags and if we have concerns we can call the physician and ask them if they’re aware of the red flags.”

Most people who become addicted to prescription opioids don’t intend to use them for recreational purposes, according to Watzak. “People typically use prescription opioids because they’ve been prescribed them by a physician for a legitimate reason, but then they like the way the drugs make them feel.” Watzak says prescription opioid addicts use a variety of methods to access the drugs, including exaggerating or inventing symptoms, doctor and pharmacy shopping, and forgery. The Galvan Law Firm, PLLC can help people in case they needs exceptional legal advice with their matters.

Watzak says when a pharmacist suspects a patient is addicted to prescription opioids, they’re advised to stage a mini-intervention with the patient and recommend treatment options. “I’ve never had to do it,” she says, “but I’ve heard from colleagues who have and they’ve said they don’t go well. The patient typically doesn’t want to hear it at the time, but once they’re clean they remember that a pharmacist tried to help them.”

Recovery for prescription opioid and heroin addicts can be particularly fraught. According to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, the connection between prescription opioid abuse and heroin use is directly related to other public health issues, including the increasing rate of HIV infections and car accidents.

In case of car accidents, it is important to filing traffic accident claim when at fault, which can save a lot of time and energy in the future. This is particularly troubling as these issues put the patient at an increased likelihood of needing a legitimate prescription for opioids to aid in the recovery from a planned procedure or accident. Seeking assistance from reliable personal injury lawyers in Grayslake can help you navigate the claims process efficiently and address any complications that may arise. Click here to know how to receive moto accidents earning compensations, for any kinds of accidents.

Accidents caused due to ignorance or intoxication, it is best to always have the contact of lawyers like https://gwofirm.com/services/motorcycle-accidents, handy. They can be of legal help in many different ways. If you were using a ride sharing service when you got involved in a traffic accident, you should consider hiring ride sharing accident attorney to help you seek compensation.

“If we know the patient has a history of addiction we can prescribe drugs in a different class, or only use the minimal dose,” says Watzak, but she stresses it’s up to patients to disclose their addiction to their provider.

 

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Pharmacists should be motivators not dictators ?

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Motivate and don’t lecture patients, expert urges

http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/motivate-and-dont-lecture-patients-expert-urges?utm_term=DSN&utm_source=MagnetMail&utm_medium=subject&utm_term=NACDS%20TSE%20Live%20Show%20Report%3A%20Business%20Program%20highlights%3B%20Costco%20and%20DSN%E2%80%99s%20reception&utm_content=DSN-NLE-PDX%20TSE%20Daily-08-24-15

DENVER — How can a pharmacist improve patients’ adherence to their medication therapy and encourage healthier behavior? Don’t lecture, don’t scold and don’t preach. 

That’s the message Bruce Berger, president of Berger Consulting, had for attendees of his insight session on “Medication Adherence and the Role of Motivational Interviewing.” Berger urged pharmacists to think about the way they talk with their patients, to respect their patients’ intelligence and to build a bond of trust in every pharmacist-patient consultation. 

Berger said motivational interviewing, or MI, can help pharmacists bridge gaps in continuity of care and encourage patients to be adherent — even in cases where the patient initially refuses to take a particular medicine or change unhealthy behaviors in the belief that such actions either aren’t needed or won’t make any real difference. The goal, Berger said, is to put patients at ease and enlist them as informed allies in their own health-and-wellness goals.

People are naturally resistant to change if they don’t think that change is necessary — for instance, if they have an asymptomatic condition, such as high blood pressure, Berger said. They also put up barriers to change or adherence if they perceive a threat, even if it’s in the manner or tone of voice in which a pharmacist, physician or other health professional lectures them about their nonadherence, weight gain or other health issue.

“If you’re just telling a patient ‘You are wrong,’ the patient will often react negatively,” Berger admonished. “How you talk to patients can either raise their resistance or ambivalence to a change in their behavior,” he noted, or it can stimulate patients to make better choices for themselves because they were treated with respect and intelligence.

MI accomplishes two things: it develops a high rapport with patients “by honoring their sense-making,” and it “directly addresses the patient’s issues with care, concern and respect,” he added.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Doctors are prohibited by their employers from prescribing legal substances

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Some Illinois health systems say no to medical marijuana

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/medical/some-illinois-health-systems-say-no-to-medical-marijuana/article_787193a2-0be9-5338-a62b-003276aa0f48.html

CHICAGO • Patients must have a doctor’s signature to buy medical marijuana in Illinois, but some health systems are forbidding doctors from putting pen to paper because the drug is still illegal at the federal level.

Others are cautiously allowing doctors to participate in the pilot program, even conducting training sessions to make sure doctors know their legal responsibilities as gatekeepers.

Illinois is among 23 states that permit marijuana for medical use, but the program has been slow to start since the law was enacted two years ago. Seven cultivation centers have been green-lighted to start growing cannabis; sales will begin this year.

Yet, only 2,800 patients have qualified for the program, a frustratingly low number for the new industry. Hesitancy from the medical establishment may be one reason. For some doctors, marijuana provides an exciting new treatment option. Others want to avoid an unfamiliar substance that wasn’t covered in medical school.

“We’re all cautious about new things. We want to test the waters,” said Dr. Scott Cooper, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, which provides training to doctors on the marijuana law. “There’s going to be a learning curve.”

 Some patients also are waiting for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration to approve 11 additional conditions and diseases — including migraine, osteoarthritis and post-traumatic stress disorder — that were recommended by an advisory board in May. The move would open legal marijuana to thousands, perhaps millions, more Illinois residents.

Under the law, doctors must sign a five-page form attesting that they have a “bona fide physician-patient relationship” that goes beyond a marijuana consultation, and that the patient has an approved diagnosis and is likely to benefit from using marijuana. Doctors, not patients, mail the form to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

From the start, state regulators took a hard line, disciplining one doctor for allegedly misleading potential patients by offering preapproval for medical marijuana and warning other doctors against setting up medical cannabis clinics.

“I still to this day believe that’s responsible for the doctor shortage,” said Tammy Jacobi, owner of a Chicago business called Good Intentions that helps patients fill out paperwork.

The disciplined doctor, Brian Murray, once worked at Good Intentions, but now the company is only a matchmaker, providing a list of doctors willing to consider recommending marijuana, Jacobi said. “The state of Illinois definitely keeps their eyes on Good Intentions,” Jacobi said.

Many large health systems in the state are allowing doctors to use their own judgment and encouraging them to know the law. In late May, Downers Grove-based Advocate Health Care, which has the state’s largest physician network, held a daylong seminar, drawing about 100 doctors.

“Our goal is to assist patients on their path back to health,” Advocate Medical Group CEO Dr. Kevin McCune said in an email. “Physicians work with each patient to determine the best treatment plan in order to achieve this.”

Patients’ access to medical marijuana mostly depends on where they get their medical care.

In Southern Illinois, two major health care organizations —Southern Illinois Healthcare and Southern Illinois University — are preventing doctors from formally recommending marijuana. Both cited the federal view of marijuana as a controlled substance with no accepted medical use.

But Dr. David Yablonsky, who has clinics in Maryville and Edwardsville, said he has written marijuana certifications for patients with fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

“I really challenge health centers and other physicians to be open-minded, to talk to patients and read about this,” Yablonsky said, stressing marijuana’s lower toxicity and addictiveness compared to prescription painkillers.

In central Illinois, there is no across-the-board policy on medical cannabis for doctors who are part of the Urbana-based Carle Foundation Hospital and Physician Group.

“There are many points of view about the clinical efficacy of cannabis as a therapeutic or medical treatment option,” said Dr. Matthew Gibb, chief medical officer. “Carle has determined that our providers practicing in their areas of specialization have the best understanding of their patients.”

In Chicago, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare has adopted a system-wide policy in which its more than 1,500 physicians “must provide informational materials and discuss the facts and uncertainty around medical marijuana” before certifying any patient, according to spokesman Christopher King. Rush University Medical Center doesn’t yet have an official position, hospital spokeswoman Deb Song said.

Meanwhile, veterans receiving treatment at Veterans Affairs hospitals have a somewhat easier time getting a medical marijuana card. VA doctors, as federal employees, aren’t permitted to recommend controlled substances, so the state’s rules spell out that those under VA care don’t need a doctor to sign off.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Florida Board of Pharmacy Controlled Substances Standards Committee Meeting

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

This is audio tape of the FL BOP’s committee meeting. At this meeting, there was two DEA spokespersons, Unfortunately this audio is nearly three hours long, but there are some interesting segments from all the participants.

One thing that I found interesting is they talk about common sense and critical thinking skills interchangeable and as if those two skills can be “educated ” on healthcare professionals.

When you listen to this audio.. pay attention the DEA spokesperson is talking about ADDICTION and everyone else talks about ABUSE.. It is as if the DEA knows they are dealing with a mental health disease and the healthcare professionals on the committee fail to admit what the real issue is.

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

At #CVSHEALTH we provide a lot of “LIP SERVICE” to med compliance

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Officials: Discarded ashes blamed in $2 million Lititz apartment building blaze

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/two-alarm-fire-in-apartment-building-just-outside-lititz/article_ab9e5a5c-484d-11e5-930b-07f436c9267d.html

A family members’ 87 year mothers lost everything in this fire…she was a regular patient at a CVS around the corner from this fire. Her son took her to the CVS and the refused to give her a few days and told her to go to ER. She uses this pharmacy!!!! They then went to the Indy that my family member uses and the were on with CVS for 20 minutes before getting info and gave her the meds she needed….she lost everything. Of course she had Silverscripts and thought she must use them…another CVS fail!!!! Go to the ER with no ID….another #CVS FAIL

Discarded ashes sparked a two-alarm blaze that displaced a few dozen residents and caused $2 million damage to a large apartment building in Warwick Township on Friday, fire officials said.

A resident and also a firefighter suffered minor injuries in the 5:20 p.m. fire in one of the Northeast Commons apartment buildings at the northeast edge of Lititz, said Cpl. Dustin Shireman, a state police fire marshal. Their names were not released.

A resident of one of the apartments “discarded tobacco ashes into a container on a second-floor balcony,” Shireman said. “I think they were from a pipe.”

 

Filed under: General Problems | 3 Comments »

First lawsuit over DENIAL OF CARE ?

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Vets with PTSD sue Colorado for blocking medical pot prescriptions

https://www.rt.com/usa/313085-ptsd-medical-marijuana-colorado/

Five people with PTSD are bringing a lawsuit against Colorado over its decision not to allow their condition to be treated under the state’s medical marijuana program, even though the substance is already legal in the state for recreational purposes.

The plaintiffs include four war veterans and one victim of sexual assault who filed the suit on Wednesday and asked that a judge overturn the Colorado Board of Health’s July decision.

All of them self-medicated by smoking pot for their trauma and were prescribed additional drugs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All five of them say medical marijuana has relieved their symptoms more effectively, and with fewer side effects, than the prescription drugs.

READ MORE: No pot for you: Colorado court upholds firing over medical marijuana

Attorneys argue in the complaint that the plaintiffs’ access to appropriate medicinal strains of marijuana has been “severely impeded” by the medical board’s refusal to recognize PTSD as a condition that is appropriate for medical marijuana recommendations.

The exclusion of PTSD from the list was made despite a recommendation from Colorado’s chief medical officer Dr. Larry Wolk. The panel ultimately struck it down with a 6-2 vote, citing insufficient federal research.

The board has 21 days to file their answer, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs, so no hearing on the complaint has been scheduled.

Colorado allows adults 21 years of age and older to buy pot for recreational use, much like alcohol. The difference between medical and recreational marijuana comes from taxation and possession restrictions. Recreational marijuana is taxed at almost 10 times the rate of medical marijuana, and medical patients are allowed to possess two ounces of marijuana, instead of the single ounce that is allowed for recreational use.

Filed under: General Problems | Leave a Comment »

Amazing how $$$ can change even a opiophobic heart

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Addiction series: Regulating Indiana’s abuse of prescription drugs

http://www.kokomotribune.com/news/local_news/addiction-series-regulating-indiana-s-abuse-of-prescription-drugs/article_8610ba5c-481e-11e5-b6c7-df78b66ae7e5.html

It is amazing, Indiana’s AG has a change of his opiophobic heart when 170 HIV + pt shows up in a small (25 K population) county in Southern Indiana.. What is not stated is that the vast majority of these same pts also have Hep B&C  – most DNA tested and the same source – and few have health insurance.. so they are dumped on to the taxpayers picking up the estimated tab of life time cost of treating around $750,000 EACH.. Indiana is one of the few states with a “rainy day fund” and debt free.

When Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller learned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that drug-related fatalities now outpace car accidents as the nation’s leading cause of death, he knew he had to take action.

And when he learned the true culprit behind the epidemic was sitting legally in family medicine cabinets across Indiana, he developed a plan that has led to sweeping changes in the regulation and administration of prescription drugs.

“This is not a subculture of people who live in the margins,” said Zoeller, noting that 77 percent of heroin overdose victims first became addicted to prescription medication. “These are also kids from middle and upper middle income families who may have first gotten addicted from a doctor’s prescription.”

“This is not a subculture of people who live in the margins. These are also kids from middle and upper middle income families who may have first gotten addicted from a doctor’s prescription.”

The first step taken by Zoeller to curb the state’s growing problem came in September 2012, when he established the Indiana Attorney General’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force, a group of roughly 100 members consisting largely of state legislators, medical professionals, educators and law enforcement personnel.

The goal of the task force, according to its website, is to “significantly reduce the abuse of controlled prescription drugs and to decrease the number of deaths associated with those drugs in Indiana.”

“I was excited to do this because I think it is important to bring people together from different segments,” said Zoeller, noting that it takes on average seven relapses before an addict can fully recover. “Collectively, we need to act because we can do more together than we can do individually.”

As Zoeller noted, working collectively has become more of a necessity than a desire in recent years. According to a study released in April 2014 by the Indiana State Epidemiology and Outcomes Workgroup, prescription drug dependence was indicated in 13.4 percent of Indiana treatment admissions, compared to the national rate of 11.8 percent.

The problem has been difficult to corral, however, as evidenced by data from the Indiana State Department of Health. In 1999, 25 people died in Indiana from overdoses related to opioid abuse. By 2013, that number had climbed to 168, and sat at 250 as recently as 2011.

To help counter the influx of prescription drugs into the hands of at-risk children and adults alike, Zoeller’s task force implemented INSPECT, which maintains a digital database of patient information for healthcare professionals, and increases certain capabilities of law enforcement in policing prescription drugs.

INSPECT’s most heavily-utilized component – the database – has done an efficient job of tracking drug prescriptions throughout the state, said Zoeller. Pharmacies, as ordered by House Enrolled Act 1218, are required to provide opioid drug dispensing information to INSPECT’s database within three days. That time limit will shrink to 24 hours starting Jan. 1.

This allows both pharmacies and law enforcement officials to recognize and target the pharmacists dispensing and addicts abusing opioid drug prescriptions. The bill also requires methadone clinics to check INSPECT before prescribing.

 

“INSPECT helps limit the doctor shopping,” said Zoeller. “Previously, you go to three or four doctors and get a prescription, and then you go to three or four pharmacies and get them filled. INSPECT now tracks all of the prescriptions for a patient, so if you see someone’s already been prescribed, you don’t give them another one.”

In accordance with the year’s most pressing drug topic, Zoeller’s task force also helped to implement Senate Bill 461, which allows any county in the middle of an HIV or hepatitis C epidemic to seek a syringe exchange program.

The need for the legislation became readily apparent after Scott County, located roughly 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky, was hit this summer with more than 170 confirmed HIV cases.

Scott County’s HIV epidemic was linked directly to the sharing of needles among addicts who were illegally abusing Opana, a powerful prescription pain medication.

In this April 2015 image, medical waste containers are stored in preparation for Scott County residents that are looking to exchange used needles at the Community Outreach Center in Austin as part of the needle-exchange program authorized by Gov. Pence.

Following a series of discussions regarding Indiana’s previous ban on needle sharing programs, Gov. Mike Pence expressed his support for the practice, laying the groundwork for Indiana’s syringe exchange program legislation.

“Unfortunately, we need to treat this as a medical, not a criminal, emergency with the needle exchanges. Until we can get past the medical emergency, we need to allow people to deal with the crisis with needle exchanges,” said Zoeller. “I know that I’ve always been a proponent of criminal justice, but they have to stand down as we deal with the epidemic.”

Other measures endorsed and enacted by Zoeller’s task force include Senate Bill 406, which allows friends or family members to administer naloxone to a person experiencing an opioid overdose, and the Yellow Jug Old Drugs program.

The YJOD program allows people to take their unwanted medication to any participating pharmacy year-round for disposal. There are currently four locations available in Indiana, according to the task force website.

While not a part of the YJOD program, officials from Howard County Recycling District, Kokomo Police Department, Howard County Sheriff’s Department and Walgreen’s Pharmacy will be accepting old prescription drugs from 9 to 11 a.m. Sept. 12, at Community Howard Regional Health.

Filed under: General Problems | 1 Comment »

Pharmacists don’t have to worry about accepting fake ID’s ?

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

Judge dismisses ID theft lawsuit against pharmacies

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/8944994-74/judge-lawsuit-cannot#axzz3jJMpuOD2

A Sewickley lawyer cannot impose a legal obligation on CVS and Giant Eagle pharmacies that doesn’t exist in law, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in dismissing a lawsuit seeking to hold the pharmacies responsible for identity theft.

Andrew Gabriel sued the retailers in a proposed class-action lawsuit after someone using his name on fraudulent prescriptions obtained oxycodone at CVS and Giant Eagle stores. U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti granted the retailers’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

“A pharmacist’s duties cannot be expanded beyond those imposed by the appropriate legislature and regulatory agencies,” the judge said.

Filed under: General Problems | 4 Comments »

When the politician/lawyer speaks the truth ?

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

emptyhead

Is this a verbal revelation of how a politician/attorney thinks… you can’t educate/change minds… you need more laws..  We already have 10 -15 million laws to enforce the TEN COMMANDMENTS !  So we need more laws that the judicial system may or may not enforce and/or be selective in how they are enforced and/or who they are enforced against.

How many times have you heard.. “we need a law to fix that”… we get a new law to fix that.. and NOTHING CHANGES…

After 100 yrs of fighting a war on drugs… originally based on bigotry and racism… who believes that minds/hearts can be changed.

lietotruth

 

 

 

Filed under: General Problems | 2 Comments »

Is the crusade against pill mills turning into a witch hunt?

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Pharmaciststeve

witchhunt

Is the crusade against pill mills turning into a witch hunt?

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2015/08/is-the-crusade-against-pill-mills-turning-into-a-witch-hunt.html

I care for a 65-year-old woman suffering from sarcoidosis affecting her lungs, her skin, her bones, her nerves, her blood chemistries, her kidneys, her colon and her mind. She has gone from an active spouse, mother, grandmother, tearing up the dance floors with her husband, to a home recluse calling friends to drive her to medical and care appointments while ambulating with assistance of another strong individual supported by a 4 wheel walker with a seat. She describes her foot pain as feet burning on fire.

 An evaluation with the Cleveland Clinic and ultimate biopsies of her skin and nerves led to a diagnosis of severe small vessel polyneuropathy. An experimental course of an IV immunosuppressant provided short-term relief and hope for relief of pain, but those drugs effectiveness waned quickly. She has recurrent kidney stones from sarcoidosis effect on her calcium metabolism and is in chronic and recurring pain with frightening blood in her urine as small sharp kidney stones wind their way down her ureters towards her bladder. She has had colitis for twenty years now. Normal barium enemas and colonoscopies initially resulted in her being considered a neurotic quack.

When the Mayo Clinic suggested a biopsy on the normal colon and the pathology revealed a new entity responsible for all her symptoms she was reclassified from a neurotic, annoying wife of a professional to “an interesting and rare case” by many in the medical community. Throughout her trials and tribulations, she has sought the care of board certified gastroenterologists, nephrologists, urologists, rheumatologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, general internists and a neurologist specializing in pain management.

 The state of Florida suffered through an epidemic of illegal pill mills at the turn of the century. Criminals hired criminal physicians to prescribe narcotic pain pills for cash irrespective of a justifiable medical condition or medical exam. These prescribing practices were spurred on by a “blue ribbon” physician panel (financed by the same pharmaceutical firms who made the pain pills) suggesting doctors use more narcotics and less nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines to control chronic pain. They additionally encouraged supplementing your income by dispensing pain pills in addition to prescribing medications. I never believed in that because there was too much opportunity and room for inappropriate prescribing.

Our unfortunate chronic patient had her pain controlled by a board certified neurologist who through trial and error found a formulary that the patient tolerated. During the months of experimentation, the patient suffered through nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea and dehydration. Trips to the ER for anti-nausea medications or IV hydration were frequent and common. When her neurologist found a mix that worked he stuck with it. That patient’s pain doctor moved out of Florida 3 years ago because he was afraid that the implementation of the Florida pain law would limit his patients’ access to needed medications and make his prescribing subject to inappropriate review and scrutiny. He is currently working at a university medical center in North Carolina providing patient care and teaching medical students and doctors in training.

As the patient’s primary care physician, I became the narcotic prescriber for the patient in her neurologist’s absence. The patient executed a pain contract with our office that she has followed religiously while she continued her care with her multiple specialty doctors. We tried several other neurologists and pain physicians but the high volume impersonal nature of medicine today left her unhappy and dissatisfied with the care and attention provided.

 When the patient turned 65 years old and went on Medicare, she purchased a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan that directed her to a large chain pharmacy. They told her they would not prescribe her narcotics because they did not want the liability and did not like the combination of medications ordered by her board-certified pain specialist. That company had been fined for illegally selling pills without prescriptions to drug dealers out of their Samford, Florida distribution site.

The alternative pharmacy — a popular supermarket chain — was audited by state regulators. The auditors were upset with the pharmacy releasing a controlled substance in the quantity given especially along with her antianxiety and anti-migraine headache medicines on this patient’s medication list. They had no patient records or history to explain why she was receiving these scripts, but nonetheless so intimidated the pharmacy that they called the patient and told her they would no longer be able to sell her the prescribed pain medicines. The patient called my office in tears wondering where to obtain her medications and frightened about the prospects of abruptly stopping these medications. The pharmacy simply said the liability and fear of losing their license necessitated the change in policy.

I am a board-certified physician in internal medicine, with extra study in geriatrics who has practiced in this community for 36 years. I list on my medical license application every two years that I will prescribe pain medications for legitimate chronic conditions. I take my required continuing education courses especially in the areas of prescription pain medication to meet the state requirements. My patients who receive chronic pain medications must execute a pain medicine contract that outlines their responsibilities as well as mine. I do not take lightly the prescribing of a controlled substance, but recognize that sometimes there are medical conditions that leave you with no other options. I have been told that after the state regulators look at the pharmacy’s role in prescribing short-term narcotics for long-term use, they will be contacting the Florida Board of Medicine to review my prescribing of these medications for this patient.

It is clearly an attempt to coerce and intimidate at the expense of a sick and vulnerable group of patients. I have probably prescribed fewer pain medications in my 35-year career than a pill mill prescribed in one day of business. The response to the Florida Board of Medicine will require hiring an attorney and involve time, research and aggravation. Our legislators, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers should be able to differentiate between a functioning medical practice and an illegal pill dispensary.

I am beginning to believe these same officials could not recognize the difference between a house of worship and a functioning brothel. Their inadequacies and inefficiencies threaten to prevent the citizens of Florida from receiving relief from pain even if they have a legitimate reason for receiving pain medication on a long-term basis. Do the citizens of Florida want their doctors making these decisions or legislators and bureaucrats with no clinical patient care experience?

Steven Reznick is an internal medicine physician and can be reached at Boca Raton Concierge Doctor.

Filed under: General Problems | 6 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »