http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=8147
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141214/GZ01/141219687
The committee reviewing overdose deaths plans to send the names of at least 27 doctors to law enforcement agencies and medical licensing boards, state Board of Pharmacy officials confirmed last week. About 20 pharmacies also will face scrutiny for filling the prescriptions.
When these doctors lose their license or stop practicing, and the pharmacies are closed down by the DEA, what will happen to all the legitimate pain patients that were being treated?
From October 2013 through last March, about 150 West Virginians died of drug overdoses, according to the data the panel is now reviewing.
From Wikipedia: The population of West Virginia – 1.854 million (2013)
The panel also identified pharmacists who could face discipline. Their names will be sent to the pharmacy board, but not to law enforcement.
Really? I mean, seriously? C’mon, the list of names that went to law enforcement included everyone, didn’t it?
The panel likely singled out some doctors and pharmacists already being investigated by state and federal authorities, Potters said.
Two doctors, two prosecutors and a pharmacist serve on the panel.
No one on the panel to advocate for patients? No, of course not…
The board identified 176 people who have received pain-pill prescriptions from 13 or more doctors over a year… In September, the panel gave the West Virginia State Police the names of 90 people suspected of soliciting an excessive number of prescriptions for pain pills from multiple doctors.
If you’re a pain patient on opioid therapy, be assured that your name is on a law enforcement list somewhere…
All Things Chronic 