Ten Ways the War On Drugs Violates the U.S. Constitution
http://www.thefix.com/content/how-drug-war-violates-constitution?page=all
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I know that this is hard to believe about the war on drugs…
Posted on December 5, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Medication error causes death of Ore. ED patient
Posted on December 5, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Investigation underway to determine why rocuronium, a paralyzing agent, was given instead of an anti-seizure medication
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Newton’s Third Law -For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
Posted on December 5, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Another “finest moments” for a Medical Licensing Board ?
Posted on December 5, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Prominent Michigan Cancer Doctor Pleads Guilty: ‘I Knew That It Was Medically Unnecessary’
From the article:
“I’m numb,” Angela Swantek, a chemotherapy nurse and a whistleblower of the cancer-treatment doctor, told reporters. “I’m not surprised though; I wondered how his team was going to defend him. The charts don’t lie.”
“I left after an hour and half. I thought this is insane,” Swantek said about her short time in Fata’s office in 2010 where she noticed patients receiving chemotherapy incorrectly. She wrote a letter to the state suggesting an investigation that day. In 2011, the state informed her they found no proof of wrongdoing at Fata’s office.
“I handed them Dr. Fata on a platter in 2010 and they did absolutely nothing,” Swantek said, adding she was relieved when he was charged two years later. “I started crying. I thought about all of the patients he took care of and harmed.”
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Attorney tries “everything” to prove an OPINION?
Posted on December 5, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Attorney questions doctor’s sanity in final day of hearing
From the article:
In the fourth and final day of the hearing probing Helena physician Mark Ibsen’s medical practice, the Board of Medical Examiners’ attorney, Mike Fanning, pushed Ibsen on allegations that Ibsen may have psychological problems that interfere with his ability to adequately perform his job.
Fanning read from another alleged Facebook post by Ibsen.
When asked whether he thought the Board of Medical Examiners and Fanning had acted outside the bounds of their responsibility, Ibsen said, “Yes.”
Ibsen said his problem is not with the board.
“I don’t think the board has heard about any of this,” Ibsen said to Fanning. “My problem is with you. It seems to me the process was quite secretive. There were several agreements in place but … it became clear to me the process was going somewhere with no interest in any resolution. … It seems the process is going to go on and on, maybe to build your career. I have no idea what you’re up to.”
In 2006, Ibsen entered into an agreement with the Montana Professional Assistance Program, a sort of diversion program, to avoid possible discipline through the more formal process with the state’s Board of Medical Examiners.
Ibsen signed a contract with the assistance program, but he said he was not happy with the terms.
“I thought it was parallel to sending me to the gulag,” he said.
The 2006 issues, Ibsen said, were “driven by malice.”
At the time, Ibsen was working at St. Peter’s Hospital as an emergency room physician and, he said, he sought an evaluation because he was pressured by the other doctors he worked with. Ibsen said they thought he had a substance abuse problem.
“In order to save my job I had to go to the Menninger Clinic,” Ibsen said.
Ibsen said after a five-day evaluation at the Houston clinic, he was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder.
Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which people have an excessive sense of self-importance, an extreme preoccupation with themselves and lack of empathy for others.
What can you expect from someone from our Judicial System.. IMO.. all of the judicial system counts on the war to drugs for employment… currently 51 billion/yr.. It is now just the DEA … from the cop on the beat, the private prison system, attorneys, judges on the bench… many of whom their paychecks are relying on THE INDUSTRY of the war on drugs.
Reportedly, this whole witch hunt started from a former disgruntled employee… telling the local prosecutor that Dr Ibsen was over-prescribing.. As I have said before.. it only takes one “loose flake” to create a avalanche !
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The Feds are being outsmarted ?
Posted on December 4, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
FBI offers $15,000 reward in pharmacy robberies
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/12/fbi-offers-15000-reward-pharmacy-robberies
©
The FBI is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man believed to have robbed pharmacies in Hampton and Newport News along with other cities and counties around the state.
The man is distinctive because he used a white T-shirt to cover his face during the robberies.
The most recent incident was on Nov. 17 when the man walked into the Rite Aid on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in Newport News, approached the pharmacy and demanded “oxy,” the release says. On Oct. 26, the man demanded Oxycodone pills in specific doses from a CVS on West Mercury Boulevard in Hampton.
Other robberies have been reported in Fredericksburg, Williamsburg and in Henrico, Hanover, Arlington and Prince William counties.
In several of the robberies, the man drove away in a Dodge Nitro SUV that may have been white or silver. He also was described as having some facial hair and wearing a ball cap.
Police are asking anyone with information to call their local department or to contact the FBI at 804-261-1044.
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Our Pharmacists determine if you are running a “pill mill”
Posted on December 3, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Walgreens
Q & A Prepared for the
New Hampshire Medical Society
Walgreens recently amended its policy on good
–
faith dispensing of controlled substances, specifically
opioids . By letter, sent in early April of this year
, Walgreens advised our prescribers nationally of this
revised policy. We followed this initial correspondence with a second letter in May
to address concerns we had heard from our prescribers.
Generally, we have found that if we have an open discussion,
our policy is met with acceptance and a desire by prescribers
to partner with us in implementing this important
policy.
We appreciate the opportunity you have provided us
to discuss our policy openly and respond to the
questions raised by your prescribers. Below, in a Q & A format, we have tried to address some of the
concerns raised:
Is Walgreens’ revised policy a statewide policy for New Hampshire only?
No. Walgreens ’ revised Good Faith Dispensing (GFD) policy is being implemented at every one of our
pharmacies nationwide and Puerto Rico.
Are Walgreens pharmacies required by the DEA to change their dispensing practices?
No
.
Walgreens took these steps voluntarily for a
number of reasons. First is the seriousness of, and
rapid increase in, the abuse of prescription controlled substances. The safety of our patients and the
general public requires that all health
care professionals increase vigilance to stem the abuse of these drugs and prevent death and injury. Second, federal authorities are looking carefully at every step of the prescription drug dispensing process, scrutinizing physicians, pharmacists, distributors,
manufacturers and even common carriers. Our distributors, regulators and others have encouraged us
to work with them to enhance our good – faith dispensing practices.
Are Walgreens pharmacists calling physicians on each and every prescription for a controlled
substance?
No. Under our policy, we encourage our pharmacists to exercise their professional judgment when they
feel further information is needed in order to satisfy their corresponding responsibility to ensure that
each prescription filled is for a legitimate medical purpose (21 C.F.R. 1306.04
). Our pharmacists may call physician offices to obtain further information about a patient. Part of that process may include
verifying diagnoses or treatment plans as part of the pharmacist’s judgment. Under our policy, these
are guidelines nfor our pharmacists, not requirements.
Why are pharmacists asking for diagnoses and treatment plans if pharmacists’ only responsibility
under DEA regulations is to ensure that a prescription is legitimate?
Pharmacists are not just required to ensure that a prescription for a controlled substance is legitimately
written. According to 21 C.F.R.1306.04, pharmacists are required to ensure that prescriptions for
controlled substances are issued for a legitimate medical purpose. The regulation states, in pertinent
part,the following:
“The responsibility for the proper prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances is upon the
prescribing practitioner, but a corresponding responsibility rests with the pharmacist who fills the
prescription. An order purporting to be a prescription issued not in the usual course of professional
treatment or in legitimate and authorized research is not a prescription within the meaning and intent
of section 309 of the Act (21 U.S.C. 829) and the person knowingly filling such a purported
prescription,as well as the person issuing it, shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations of the provisions
of law relating to controlled substances. ”
Any time that a Walgreens pharmacist asks for a diagnosis or a treatment plan, that pharmacist is
requesting the information to ensure that the prescription for a controlled substance has been
prescribed for a legitimate medical purpose.
Can pharmacists ask for patient information protected under HIPAA?
Pharmacies and pharmacists are covered under HIPAA as “health
care providers , ” which includes entities
who sell or “dispense a drug, device, equipment
or other item in accordance with a prescription.” (45
CFR 160.103 par (3))
Therefore, by law, pharmacists are granted access to protected health information
necessary for them to perform their responsibilities. Every prescription on file for our patients is
protected health information, which Walgreens has always held as confidential information and
protected under federal law (HIPAA).
Each and every medical condition or allergy of our patients is
similarly held as confidential and used only to ensure the proper dispensing of medications.
Is Walgreens ’ policy designed to “limit” the quantity of pain medication that can be dispensed to
patients?
No.
A prescription for a large quantity of narcotics may draw increased scrutiny, but a physician’s
prescriptions are not denied solely because of the quantity of tablets prescribed.
Similarly, Walgreens does not want to inconvenience our patients by making them go to multiple
pharmacies. If one Walgreens pharmacist refuses a specific prescription for an opioid
for a patient, that prescription will be refused at all Walgreen pharmacies, as it has been entered
in our system as “refused
.”
Each patient should be given this information to avoid travelling to multiple Walgreens pharmacies in order to fill a prescription.
While Walgreens ’ policy is not designed to limit our patients’ access to needed pain medication, we as
health care providers must understand that the prescribing and dispensing of opioids
is changing and must continue to change in order to stop diversion and unnecessary “accidental” deaths by overdose.
Filed under: General Problems | 16 Comments »
And these chains claim that they are in healthcare ?
Posted on December 3, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Filthy conditions found at some NYC pharmacies
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/filthy-conditions-found-some-nyc-pharmacies
An investigative report by a New York City television station found filthy conditions at several chain pharmacies, including dead insects and rodent droppings.
According to PIX11, the Duane Reade pharmacy at Amsterdam Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan failed three inspections. During those inspections, health investigators found more than 2,000 mice dropping, and had to destroy 30 pounds of dog found and other treats that were rodent defiled. Inspectors also found beetles and a heavily soiled toilet.
Some NYC pharmacists blocking Plan B sales to males
During a one-year period, PIX11 said Duane Reade pharmacies failed 21 inspections throughout the city. Duane Reade issued a statement in that said: “We take this matter seriously and took action at the time to improve the situation in those stores.”
At a CVS pharmacy in Manhattan, inspectors found dead insects in candy boxes, another 60 dead flies, half a dozen dead roaches, and 110 mouse and rat droppings, according to the station. The station reported that the inspectors also found either inaccurate thermometers or none at all in seven of the basement and retail level coolers and freezers.
Nineteen Rite Aid pharmacies throughout New York City failed inspections. At one location in Washington Heights, inspectors found 540 rat droppings and a large, dead rat. They also found gnaw marks on candy bars and ordered 24 bags of the chocolate treats destroyed.
Rite Aid told the station: “[We have] taken additional actions to improve our food safety and sanitation program including requiring all New York City area store managers to successfully complete a food safety and sanitation course.”
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Walgreens and Rite Aid caught again !
Posted on December 3, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
How can we cause more Heroin deaths.. let me count the ways
Posted on December 2, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve
Panel: Quashing Prescription Drug Abuse Demands Community Effort
http://www.aafp.org/news/practice-professional-issues/20141202statelegopioids.html
In the past four years, several states have proceeded quickly to require use of a state-operated prescription monitoring program (PMP). These online databases, which can track all of the controlled substances that are prescribed to a patient and provide the prescriber’s name and the dispensing pharmacy, are intended to warn physicians about possible diversion of a prescription drug. In New York, for example, medical professionals are required to check the database for every prescription they write.
But that wasn’t always the case, according to Marty Allain, J.D., director of Indiana’s PMP, which is known as INSPECT.
“There was no PMP mandate prior to 2010 other than (in) Nevada,” said Allain, who also is NARxCHECK senior manager for the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. “Representatives and senators at the state level said, ‘We have to do something.'”
Now, all states have a PMP except Missouri, where state lawmakers have yet to pass legislation that would create a database, Allain told conference participants. He also pointed out that before 2011, states were not sharing their PMP data, which made it harder for physicians, law enforcement and other health care professionals to track prescriptions across state lines.
“It wasn’t even on the radar screen in 2005, and now governments are sharing information,” Allain said. Twenty-seven states share PMP data, and he expects 30 will be doing so by the end of 2015. Still, he noted, usage of the database among prescribers remains low. For every 10 prescriptions that are written in Indiana, the database is only checked once.
“I think it’s because the provider doesn’t have time to access the site,” Allain said.
Yet despite the low participation rate, Indiana has reported a 20 percent decrease in patients who had a high volume of prescriptions. And in New York, the number of individuals who obtained a prescription for a controlled substance has decreased by 9.5 percent.
Indiana has a “ton” of WAGS and CVS’s… there is media story after media story about legit pts in Indiana being denied their Rxs for controls being filled.. it would appear that the state is taking “credit” for this… This is the same state that a few years ago the PMP (INSPECT) requested to be able to cross reference the driver’s licenses in INSPECT against the state’s BMV’s database.. to see how many fake/bogus driver’s licenses had been accepted by Pharmacists and entered into the PMP database. AND the BMV denied the request and the AG’s office backed them up…something about invasion of privacy …
How can so many supposedly intelligent individuals be so frigging DUMB ! FIFTY YEARS ago… the Surgeon General declared tobacco products cause health problems and while the per-cent of the population that use tobacco products.. the total number of people that currently use tobacco products is not that much different..
We tried making alcohol illegal with the 18th Amendment and that lasted 12-14 yrs.. maybe the politicians had a hard time getting their booze …
We are seeing Heroin use/abuse/death going thru the roof.. I have seen quoted numbers of 500-600% increases..
The diverters are the ones we need to worry about… and until we are able to validate the ID of the person presenting the Rx or requesting a Rx from a prescriber… NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE.. except maybe the use/abuse/deaths from Heroin …
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