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NEW YORK -- A New York City doctor who wrote prescriptions for a man who killed four people in a pharmacy robbery was hit Thursday with manslaughter charges that accuse him of causing the overdose deaths of two patients.
Dr. Stan Li already had been accused of prescribing prescription drugs to addicts.
Li prescribed more than 500 pills to a 21-year-old man in the five weeks leading up the discovery of his body in a parked car in Queens in 2010, authorities said.
The cause of death was acute intoxication caused by a combination of Xanax and oxycodone.
'Do no harm'
Authorities said they believe it's the first time a physician has been charged in New York with manslaughter in an overdose death.
"Dr. Li flouted the fundamental principle in medicine -- first, do no harm," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in a statement announcing the indictment.
Read more US stories from NBC News
Li, of Hamilton, N.J., appeared in court Thursday.
The 58-year-old Li has previously pleaded not guilty to peddling prescriptions to addicts and drug dealers from a Queens weekend clinic where he saw as many as 120 patients a day, moonlighting from his full-time job as an anesthesiologist at a New Jersey hospital.
One of Li's patients, David Laffer, shot and killed two employees and two customers while holding up a Long Island pharmacy for painkillers in June 2011. Authorities have said that Li provided 24 prescriptions filled by Laffer.
Laffer is serving a life sentence for murder.
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Leave a Comment:
Hey I'm First this time.
First
of all, who makes and distributes the drugs Li so liberally hands out. Most
have got it that drugs are addictive and dangerous. Dangerous more for the
reason there addictive than anything else.
The
boy that overdosed could have shot his self then the person responsible would
be different but boy would still be dead.
The
guy that robbed the pharmacy may have done it earlier and more often if Li
wasn't writing him prescriptions.
Bottom
line is Doctors beware, we will see how liable you can be for your enabling.
I
for one can't seem to come to grips how the pharmaceutical companies justify
making so much of these preferred addictive drugs with absolutely no liability.
The drugs are controlled right? We have a department in our Government which
over sees the making, distributing and policing, doesn't that department bear
any blame?
The Players, drugmakers, distributors, pharmacy's, Doctors, patients, DEA, courts and prisons, and victimsas well as all America
So, It's this Dr's fault that people overdose? Give me a break man. If you receive a prescription for painkillers, it's up to the individual to abide by the dose.
Nobody is forcing the pills into their mouths but themselves. There's directions on the bottle that if not followed correctly, this will happen. It's the individuals fault. Not the Dr's.
There are many people that will go into a Dr's office and fake the pain just to receive painkillers.
"Nobodies Fault But Mine" (Led Zep)
@Creek Dog, no, he did not put them into their mouths, but he wrote illegal prescriptions for controlled drugs in quantities considered illegal. That allowed them to ingest them in unsafe quantities, and die. This went well beyond a patient faking pain to get a prescription. No good doctor would keep writing scripts in such quantities, and would realize the patient was just abusing them, so therefore stop writing the scripts. He abused his trust as a doctor, and is rightly charged.
gm Creek Dog
Bingo!
Be that as it may, "Dr. Feelgood's in Da (Big) House."
GM Creek Dog and Denver Bill
Seems the USA is the most over medicated country in the world because it is used as "preventative" rather than for cure. That said, Florida has recently (last 2 years) been raiding these so called "pill mills" in order to stop illegal sales of prescription drugs, Oxycontin etc. During the raids, they found people from a variety of states, some near as in GA, SC but others from as far away as NY, IN, IL - people who would get prescriptions for hundreds, if not thousands of pills for their "pain".
When a doctor prescribes, he/she should have the patient in mind and follow the Hippocratic Oath of "...first, do no harm" not supplement their business income.
GM Bill, jax.
Kevin,
I understand however, the Dr is also accused of writing scrips to addicts. Do you think the addicts came into his office and said, "I need pills 'cause I'm an addict?". I doubt it and if so, I also doubt he would write them a script. I do agree though that he was trying to silver line his pockets but to blame him for giving pills to a guy who got hooked and held up a pharmacy for more? Hmmmmm.
That's like a gunsmith selling a guy a gun who says he needs it for protection then he kills someone and now, the gunsmith is arrested and at fault. The way I see it, no matter "what" you have in your hands, the individual person has a responsibility to keep control of it.
I've had 3 lower back surgeries in my time. My Dr wrote me a scrip once for 120 Hydrocodone pills with 10 refills. that's 1,200 pills. Well, here I am! I took them according to the directions and did not abuse them. I could've downed many of them and OD'd but, was not stupid about it.
I am not defending this Dr for his abuse, just sayin' even though he abused his license as a Dr, the individual still has a responsibility to not over do it. I like cookies but do not stuff 30lbs of it down my throat in a day.
Jack,
This is not just the pill mills. I worked security in a clinic for a while, you would not believe some of the things I've seen druggies do, or attempt to do. There was a time when security was the last thing a physician would think is needed, but now there is a major issue with the druggies. They will do practically anything to get what they want, Doctor shopping? Yeah, they have a network, they know who is easy, and who is not, but try it all, travel, yeah, use extortion, blackmail, coercion, yeah. Then they go out and mix up some god awful concoction their druggie friends told them about, throw in some pills, cocaine, meth, paint stripper, weed killer, put it in a syringe, and inject it in their arm. Then they or their family want to blame the physician. Those pill shopping druggies are not the brightest lamp in the chandelier.
They're just doing this to scare other doctors. Have your leg cut off and the doctor will tell you to take Alive.
So What?
so are they going to track down the mechanic who put the tires on his car so he could get there as well? or maybe the subway train operator? and how about those shop owners who cleaned their walks leaving him a clear pathway to murder. or perhaps his barber for cutting his hair so it wouldn't hang in his eyes and obstruct his view. the stupidity could go on forever.
gm Bill Jack Creek Dog.....
Doctors are already scared enough of the "Law!" and are afraid to medicate patients in incredible pain & discomfort ... Addicts and abusers are going to do what they have to to get what they want ... regardless of the "Law" It's the normal citizen that suffers because of these highly restrictive drug laws ... not those that abuse prescription drugs.
I have, as a cancer patient, seen the absurdity & unfairness of the current regulations ... and suffered though bouts of unbearable pain .. with only Ibuprofen ... after chemo treatments because my doctor couldn't call in a prescription to my pharmacy, two miles away. To obtain relief I would have to drive to his office ( a ninety mile round trip) to pickup a prescription for a narcotic ... because of current law!
I could not be prescribed in my state Virginia, to help cope with the pain,Marijuana, because of state law, and yet was told confidentially by multitudes of doctors and medical professionals and nurses, that it was highly effective, to aid to "coping" with the pain in my situation.
LEAVE THE DOCTORS ALONE! ..
let them treat their patients without holding a gun to their head about misperscribeing drugs ... they are closer to the situation then anyone else ... don't continue to beat up your responsible citizenry for the crimes of a few ... that's prison mentality ... no one can have a nail file because 1 out of a million prisoners will abuse it ...
I think that this may be a little overreaching by the prosecutor. The patient for whom he wrote prescriptions for 500 pills in a 5 week period may very well have needed the medication. I know that the quantity sounds like a lot, but it really is not for someone who is on pain management for something like back problems. The person may be taking two tablets of a medication every four hours which would come out to 360 pills in a 30 day month (2 pills/dose * 6 doses/day * 30 days = 360). So in a five week period that happened to span two monthly supply prescriptions it would be 720 pills. Even if this were not the case, 500 pills over 5 weeks is only a little over 14 pills a day. Someone on pain management may be taking an extended release pain medication twice a day and an immediate release medication for breakthrough pain every four hours as needed. This can easily end up being 14 pill a day. As for the patient the doctor wrote 24 prescriptions for, the article does not say over what period of time so it is hard to know if this is excessive or not. That said, many people take multiple medications and a fairly typical pain management regimen might easily include three prescriptions a month (an extended release pain medication, an immediate release pain medication, and a muscle relaxant).
As far as the doctor seeing 120 patients in a day, this is not really all that unusual for many doctors. For routine follow-up visits the doctor rarely spends more than about 5 minutes with a patient, so seeing 10-12 patients in an hour is not hard to imagine. In a clinic setting this is even easier to imagine because the nurses do a lot of the work. They collect all the information on the patient before the doctor even enters the room. This allows the doctor to get in and out fairly quickly.
Trying to hold the doctor responsible for the patient that held up the pharmacy and killed four people is patently absurd. The only way a charge like that would make sense would be if the doctor was a psychiatrist and he failed to report threats made by a patient or if the patient posed an imminent threat to himself and/or those around him and the doctor took no action. From the article, it does not sound like any of the charges against the doctor stem from this incident so this may be a non-issue.
This doctor may very well be a pill pusher who is deserving of losing his medical license. That said, I do not see how they are going to win a conviction in this case unless the prescriptions he wrote when taken as directed would cause an overdose. I have had prescriptions given to me by doctors on many occasions that provided me with enough pills to overdose and kill myself many times over if I did not follow the dosing directions. However, that does not mean that the doctor did anything wrong. Most prescriptions that doctors write, particularly ones for pain killers, can be used to overdose and kill the patient. The only way to avoid this would be having the patient need a new prescription every day or two and that is definitely not practical.
And just where will people who really need pain medication get it when doctors are too afraid to perscribe it ??...The street dealers of course....what a system !!
Darryl I could not agree more. I've been mounting this crusade for a long time. The DEA already has physicians running scared, afraid to treat people with very real illnesses and injuries. News like this will NOT help. I can not be blind to the fact that there ARE doctors out there that are drug pushers. It is THEY who should be prosecuted, not the legitimate pain sufferer. The DEA needs to be stripped of its draconian powers, doctors that prescribe for cash need to be prosecuted, their license revoked, and their prescriber (DEA) number recalled. It has gotten so bad that yesterday my wife was told that, since her own doctor retired, the other doctor in the practice would no longer prescribe the seizure medicine she has NEEDED for sixteen years. She has nine days worth of medicine left, we have no insurance, and we are now scrambling to find a physician NOT terrified by the DEA. If you, Darryl, are one of those people like me who deal with daily, bad pain (I rarely take meds myself), I'm so sorry. I know how you feel.
Those who abuse a Doctors compassion to alleviate suffering, are many times the world's best actors. Many know exactly what symptoms to fake, and some are as knowledgeable as a pharmacist to the chemical makeup of medicines, well, the ones they want prescribed. Many primary physicians spent a large portion of time and money to learn their profession, because they are compassionate toward their fellow man, and get played by these actors, using compassion as a tool against the physician. They want what they want, and as long as they get what they want, NOTHING makes any difference to them. Nobody put a gun to these peoples head, and told them to take all the pills, or rob a business, or take a bunch of medicine that is clearly labeled to not operate machinery or drive, then get in a car and go play bumper car. The DEA is way off base on this, the physicians have been victimized, go after the person who perpetrated the crime.
Not really a doctor can be sued for NOT giving pain pills out like candy. I was a nurse for almost forty years and nothing makes you want to chew nails more than when a Patient says I have back pain it is ten out of ten I need a pain shot. Hold that shot I'm going out for a smoke....to get that "smoke" they have to walk a long long way with a ten back pain..... suuuuure...
While I understand the need to allow Dr's to prescribe as needed, it's clear this patient (or any patient for that matter), needs that amount of drugs.
This doctor was irresponsible with his pad. I think the charges are founded.
Doctors are already scared enough of the "Law!"
....and are afraid to medicate patients in incredible pain & discomfort ... Addicts and abusers are going to do what they have to to get what they want ... regardless of the "Law" It's the normal citizen that suffers because of these highly restrictive drug laws ... not those that abuse prescription drugs.
I have, as a cancer patient, seen the absurdity & unfairness of the current regulations ... and suffered though bouts of unbearable pain .. with only Ibuprofen ... after chemo treatments because my doctor couldn't call in a prescription to my pharmacy, two miles away. To obtain relief I would have to drive to his office ( a ninety mile round trip) to pickup a prescription for a narcotic ... because of current law!
I could not be prescribed in my state Virginia, to help cope with the pain,Marijuana, because of state law, and yet was told confidentially by multitudes of doctors and medical professionals and nurses, that it was highly effective, to aid to "coping" with the pain in my situation.
LEAVE THE DOCTORS ALONE! ..
let them treat their patients without holding a gun to their head about misperscribeing drugs ... they are closer to the situation then anyone else ... don't continue to beat up your responsible citizenry for the crimes of a few ... that's prison mentality ... no one can have a nail file because 1 out of a million prisoners will abuse it ...
I agree that the DEA has doctors running scared. It used to be that if you were having some type of surgery or had some other injury the doctor treating the problem would prescribe the pain medication you needed. Increasingly this is no longer the case. Patients are having to go see a pain management specialist to get the pain medication they need, particularly if they are going to be on pain mediation for more than a month or two. These pain management doctors have their patients sign a contract that they will not seek pain medication from any other source and that if they do end up taking any from another source, like due to an emergency room visit, they have to notify the pain management doctor immediately. Also, many pain management doctors have taken to periodically drug testing their own patients. This is for two reasons. First is to make sure that the patient is not getting other pain medication from another doctor or taking any street drugs that might interact with what the doctor is prescribing and cause an overdose. This is because doctors have actually been sued and lost when patients have overdosed from these situations (thank you scumbag lawyers). The second reason for the drug tests is to make sure that the patient is taking what the doctor is prescribing. This is to ensure that the patient is actually taking the medication and not selling it on the street. If the doctor tests a patient who has come in for regular refills and does not find an appropriate level of the drug in their system they will cut off the patient immediately and may even make a report to law enforcement to cover their ass. Of course their are doctors who do not follow these precautions, and they are the ones who get the extra scrutiny from the DEA. There are without a doubt a number of crooked doctors out there who write prescriptions without worrying about whether the patient truly needs, or is even the one taking the pills. They are just in it to make the money of the office visits. These crooked doctors should be prosecuted and lose their medical licenses in addition to being locked up. They do damage far beyond just the patients they see and write bogus prescriptions for. Unfortunately, these scumbags make it much harder for legitimate pain management doctors to practice and for people who are truly in pain to get the help they need.
@Kelly Foley - Where is it clear that this doctor was over-prescribing. If you read my post above (#1.11) you will see that 500 pills over a 5 week period is really not all that unusual.
How about doctors be doctors and the police be police? Why aren't the drug companies making these additive drugs held liable?
I think getting ones' drugs on the street makes far more sense; that way no physician is sent to jail...give to folks with bogus complaints to they can sell them to others;;thus leaving the doctor out of the loop and free to prescribe more pain meds to people who don't need them..wow
I like this idea
Andy, you added a facet of point I should have hit on. The drug seekers themselves are to blame for how they have learned to manipulate doctors. Of course it would help if some medical staff could tell the difference when it's obvious. I was in the ER a year ago. Xray had verified a T5 vertebral fracture and a collapsed disc at T4/T5. The woman in the bed beside me was in for "abdominal pain" (though she reacted all wrong to palpitation, showed no sign of guarding/rebounding, and all tests so far were negative) though she was talking to her friends a mile a minute, laughing and having a grand old time. SHE received 5mg of dilaudid, I was offered Motrin (seriously contraindicated as I have Crohns Disease). The reason for these decisions? I have tattoos. A Maltese cross with crossed axes and my car number from the fire department, and an angel overlooking the world (a tribute to a great friend who passed away from breast cancer).
On the advice of my physician I saw a "Pain Management Doctor" once. With only a basic run down of my medical issues he immediately put me on fentanyl. STRONG, STRONG stuff. I went home and took one. It messed me up so bad I went back the next day and gave him the rest of the prescription and told him he had to put me on something MUCH lighter. He gave me a disgusted look, told me I could get THAT from my GP, and I never saw him again. He WANTED me on hard drugs.
Now we have the FDA chiming in about the drastic harm medications like Vicodin and Loratab cause, giving the DEA even MORE ammunition. Yes, hydrocodone and its brethren can put a strain on the liver, but the component that really causes the most harm is in the acetaminophen they load the pills with. A 5mg loratab can have as much as 500mgs of tylenol in it. If you are ordered to take two every 4-6 hours that can be as much as 6000mgs a day of a drug known to cause liver failure in overdose. The FDAs answer? Get rid of drugs such as hydrocodone and oxycodone all together. In every single report on the subject I have noticed that they completely failed to mention Hydrocodone HCL, the same pain med made with NO TYLENOL AT ALL. Instead of offering an alternative they are giving the DEA more proof they need to control or eliminate pain control.
Enigma, I'm hoping you're being facetious. It is in large part due to the street sales of these drugs the DEA is doing what they're doing.
If the doctors were more careful in their prescribing, and paid proper attention to who was getting what, there would be less of a problem. Clearly, this guy wasn't paying attention. I believe that if I saw a particular name (David Laffer) come up as often as it apparently did (24 times), I would recognise the name long before the 24th time.
basch, it's not always a case of being careful. Recently here near Atlanta a doctor was caught on hidden camera asking a patient how many pills the man seated across from him needed, taking a pile of cash from the man, then writing a 'scrip for TWO HUNDRED hydrocodone. The doc was running a pay-per-pill pill mill, the same as but on a lesser scale than the ones run by two brothers in Florida somewhat recently.
If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.
Classic tautologies.
Denver
Good one. Here is another to add to your collection of homilies. LOL
"Balls", said the Queen "...and if I had two; I'd be King".
gm jack
"And the King laughed, because he had to."
gm jack, denver,
I am the king! "The Queen said I could say that."
GM Panhead
To quote Mel Brooks "...it's good to be the King." - however, one must remember that as long as the Queen is happy, the King is happy!
And the contrapositive is also true: "If the queen isn't happy, then nobody's happy."
HEY, Times-Running-Out! Theres always a FIRST TIME! but, this Doctor,pushed the Envelope!
When pot is legal maybe these dangerous drugs will not be as popular. In Japan pot will never be legal but drugs are generally not considered acceptable. Alcohol on the other hand, is very popular.
Next time you have a thought ........ let it go. Or at least stick to single sentences.
Speed is also popular in Japan!
If this is anybody else's idea of even rudementary, pre first grade logic we must by all means outlaw the right to operate any automobile for all members of this society that willingly inflicts their own base intelligence on themselves. Let me assist said members of society. Since we all comprehend that there are a few unsafe drivers among the overwhelming majority of sound drivers, then knowbody should be an automobile driver. Ever. (not to mention pushing around three tons of cold hard steel isn't even in the same galaxy as pushing a paper prescription pad) but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Sig Heil...........
Quite possibly the worst, most tortured opening sentence for a news article I've seen all year.
Hello!! He's an anesthiologist!! He shouldn't even be writing people prescriptions. I don't go to an anesthiologist when I'm sick or depressed! He's shady and he got caught!
CNJ,
Just FYI: most Pain Clinics are run by anesthesiologists. Pain Management is a subspecialty of Anesthesiology. Pain management fellowships (that lead to board certification in Pain Management) were developed for anesthesiologists...though in the past several years specialists in Neurology and Physical and Rehab Medicine can enroll in the fellowships and sit for the Board exam.
That said, this doctor seems to have been practicing outside normal limits, as there is s no mention of his training in Pain Management and there is no way to actually properly evaluate and treat 120 patients a day - I am surprised he could even write presciptions fast enough to see that many "patients". It is situations like this that make life difficult for legitimate pain docs and their patients.
"...The 58-year-old Li has previously pleaded not guilty to peddling prescriptions to addicts and drug dealers from a Queens weekend clinic where he saw as many as 120 patients a day, moonlighting from his full-time job as an anesthesiologist at a New Jersey hospital..."
120 a day! That is four minute average per patient in eight hours.
He is nothing more than a dealer with an M.D. behind his name. Illegal dealers have been charged with the same crime of manslaughter for the same reason.
The pharmaceutical companies should be forced to stop producing oxycodone or produce it in a form that can not be altered for inappropriate use, oh but this would make a considerable dent in their profits...
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
I think I need to know more before I make any call on this. Why don't we blame the pharmacist too for filling it too. If this guy had 500 pills in 5 weeks why wouldn't it bring up a red flag? That's an average of 14 pills a day.
Also, this is partially born on the individual however, we no longer ask people to be responsible for their choices. It was probably his mommy and dads fault.
Where I do see a problem is he is an anesthesiologist. Why is he seeing patients?
Interesting...
where did he attend med school?? was it even in the USA?? he was just in it for the money..probably got a kickback from the pharmacy also.these "professionals" need to lose there lic and spend alot of time in jail.
When looked at objectively, there is no mistaking that this particular doctor (and he is by no means alone) was running a pill mill for addicts and abusers, and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, as well as losing his license to practice medicine forever, and on a nationwide basis, so he can't set up shop in another state. The know-nothings here who pontificate and bloviate to the extreme about the horrible deadly danger, and no medical use for these awful, awful pills, can't see past the end of their noses, and have probably never experienced the kinds of pain for which these drugs were designed and manufactured.
I have great familiarity with oxycodone, having had multiple major abdominal and chest surgeries, as well as several joint arthroscopic procedures, and I did benefit mightily from these drugs in the shorter term, such as being able to sleep at night, and not screaming in pain all day. They are, when prescribed appropriately and taken as ordered, a real godsend to anyone with the type of pain that results from surgery or extreme trauma. They are not a panacea for all pain, and some people cannot tolerate the side effects, but they usually help. Taking them long-term is not a good thing, as it sets up a tolerance/dependency scenario, where you need more pills because the body has developed a tolerance for them, and now you are also dependent on them. Been there, done that, got off them by a slow, tapered withdrawal (which was still horrible), and haven't taken one in a year.
There are a not inconsiderable number of doctors, although by no means a majority, who find that supplementing their income from caring for sick patients it much easier when they write prescriptions for narcotics to junkies. These doctors need to be removed from the MD pool permanently, because at some point they no longer care for ill patients, because it interferes with their pill mill operations. The FDA supposedly monitors this type of prescription behavior, but it doesn't seem to be particularly effective, in that they can't seem to strike a balance between instilling unjustified fear in legitimate doctors writing legitimately needed narcotic scrips and allowing criminals like this to get away with it.
Almost allopathic doctors do this at one time or another because they actually are actually taught no other natural alternatives.
i knew one of the young men who died and it was his fault for taking the pills. the family tried many times to get him to stop but could not, he went to rehab and changed his friends but the demon inside of him won out. this doctor was helping the demon and could of not taken the money and turned him down. as for you creek dog you sound like the guy who sits on his porch drinks moonshine all day, and tells everybody they are wrong. one day somebody you know might go through something like this, either drugs, drinking or something and lets see your attitude then. this is everyones fault the doctor,the addict,the drug company, the pharmacy involved in the game as well.
I thought that in this computer era that flags go up for doctors who are prescribing massive amounts to the same people or in ways that attract attention.
Thanks to those doctors though that understand pain and do prescribe and help the many, many people that need opiates and other pain medications. I often think we would be better off if we went back to olden days. Yes, Wyatt Earp's wife was sort of addicted to laudanum but I believe the abuse and addiction rates were low in the days when these drugs were not so tightly controlled and not seen as evils. I have seen so many docs prescribe just Motrin-for EVERYTHING.
Perhaps someone could educate me about what went on when laudanum and similar drugs could be purchased without prescriptions.
Laudanum to my knowledge was so strong it was made illegal. And don't forget in the old days alcohol was so potent (often homemade) that it was used for pain. Motrin is not a narcotic. Narcotics do need regulation so people will not abuse them.
Opiates (primarily morphine) were widely used in the Civil War, when many of the bullet wounds to extremities could only be treated by amputation. Heroin was introduced into the United States after the war as a "cure" for all the morphine addicts. Opium was more widely used in the post-war west, primarily due to the Chinese influence. Laudanum is tincture of opium. Not only is laudanum not illegal, it is still prescribed by doctors for such things as nervous bowels and stomach flu. Congress passed a law in 1890 imposing a tax on opium and morphine, and then bans opium in 1905. The Harrison Act, passed in 1914, required doctors and pharmacists to register and pay a tax in order to legally prescribe opiates.
For the last six years my health has hit bottom due to inept doctors and pharmacists. It began when I went for an appointment for a regular checkup by my cardiologist. Because I had pulled a tendon in my ankle, I was unable to use the treadmill, so he gave me some medication to take in lieu of the treadmill test. About thirty minutes after taking the med, my heart began to race wildly, so I was rushed to the emergency room then admitted. Twenty-four hours later an electro physioligist sent his nurse in with some medication and said they were giving me a large dose of this med "because they wanted a lot of it in my body so it work real soon." Two hours later, I noticed my speech beginng to slur, and I felt faint. I buzzed the nurse's station, and the last thing I heard was "Code Blue." The overdose of meds had put me into cardiac arrest. That sent me to intensive care for about a week. When I began receiving the EOBs from my insurance company, I quit counting when the cost of this incident reached $40,000!! My suggestion to those who are not druggies and just want to get over an illness, is to take no medication until you have researched it and the side effects. Some doctors and pharmacists do not even check to see if it will be compatible with meds you are already taking. I could go on describing more incidents such as this, but suffice it to say, check it out before you swallow.
Unfortunately, your experience has nothing to do with doctors who criminally overprescribe painkilling narcotics to obvious addicts and abusers. It doesn't even have anything to do with them at all. Your suggestion that people don't take any drug until thoroughly researching it is ludicrous on its face for most people, who are not capable of understanding pharmacokinetics of drug/drug interactions, so they will always err on the side of fear. This can get them dead in a hurry.
I am well-versed in the side effects and interactions of the many drugs I take, and am able to understand the meaning of them. I have to be, because when your drugs are prescribed by five or six different specialist, none of whom speak to each other, you have to be concerned about the effects of what is termed polypharmacy. If you look closely at the package inserts with the drugs you are prescribed, almost all of them have reported side effects such as MI, stroke, and death, even if there was only one case, and regardless of the affected patients' co-morbidities and concomitant drug regimen. In short, most people are not well-enough educated to decipher and discern these issues, so if they see the words heart attack, stroke, or death, they think the pills will kill them, when the fact may well be that not taking them will kill them.
Give him a Dose of his own medicine.
I am a former Air Force medic and California LVN (LPN). I have had a rare form of arthritis the past 31 years, but the past four or so it has gotten pretty rough with the pain. Last year in April it got so bad I could not stand. I was immobile in a bed in the E.R. - two evenings in a row. I am hoping to have back surgery by spring. Sure, there are people who abuse these medicines, but some of us need them just to walk down the street. I take a lot of anti-inflammatory herbs too. Anything that will help from Turmeric to Ginger Root. I know of many former neighbors who have had a dozen or more back surgeries, so this is not all a bunch of nonsense for people who do need pain medicine. Back shots only work a short time if at all. Don't judge on here that everyone on pain meds is abusing them.
I'm a medical professional. A few things strike me about this article.
Up to 120 patients a day? What was his average? I'm blown away. Even seeing 20+ patients in a regular clinic day is busy. It's not just the time it takes for the doc to see, but the time for the patient to check in with reception and staff. Unless they're transported in with vitals in hand the doc wouldn't be able to see this number of patients unless time and space were distorted.
Now amount. People say we can't deny people pain meds. Nonsense. Docs can and should do. There are patients who's tox analysis (not just a tox screen) show multiple drugs or nothing at all (which means they're diverting) . There has already been standards set for a morphine equivalent limit a physician should prescribe before referring to pain management.
A doc writing 20+ scripts in a 5 week period better have some extraordinary circumstances that are well documented otherwise he's far outside the norm. From just the time he had to spend with patients I doubt he had either.
Waiting for some of you experts to comment about the relationship between Oxycodone (which is basically Endocet or Percocet) and Xanax or Valium when the two are taken in a manner which is not prescribed in the directions for dosage. When doctors prescribe the medications which might conflict when abused, it is their assumptions the patient will take it as prescribed.
I had an honest doctor nearly overdose me by accident a few years ago. He told me to take a prescription cough syrup four times daily for cough, and a prescription pain pill four times daily for the rib that was beginning to crack from all the coughing. The next afternoon while watching TV, I realized that I kept having to remind myself to breathe. Breathing just felt like too much trouble. Turns out both prescriptions contained hydrocodiene, or hydrocodone, or whatever it was. I immediately decided not to take them together anymore.
Another doctor told me later that's how those overdoses kill you. "Respiratory Depression." People drift off and just stop breathing because they're too relaxed to even feel like they need to.
I feel torn on this subject. I know of two instances where doctors in the Milwaukee, WI area over prescribed pills to two friends of my son's. Both of these friends are dead. Did anyone force the pills down these friends throats? No. However, both doctors were known for giving out prescriptions/pills like it was candy. Both doctors knew that these patients abused drugs in the past and still continued to prescribe for them. In some ways, yes it is partially the doctor's responsibility. My sister is a prescription drug addict. In the past year and a half, three pain specialists have dropped her as a patient because she has not taken her medications as prescribed even though she signed an agreement with them that she would not abuse the drugs given her. She was constantly calling them for refills. Kudos to these doctors for taking a stand with her. At least they finally get that she is an addict. Before dropping her, they all suggested drug rehab programs which she has not seriously looked into. My sister has called family and friends asking if they had any extra meds they could share with her. We have all told her no, she should not be doing this. She has a reputation at our local hospital er dept. for asking for drugs and doctor shopping. Her situation is a sad one but one she will need to come to grips with on her own. We have all "talked till we are blue in the face" for her to get help but to no avail. If she dies of an overdose, then yes, that is on her but if she finds a doctor that keeps giving her mass quantities of pills like some have done in the past, then shame on them also.
It would be helpful if Class II medications could be e-prescribed.
Sorry but I disagree with these kinds of cases. Its the same charge that convicted Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor. If this guy had od' off a street drug, would they be searching for the dealer? No!
While the doctor does have a responsiblity to prescribe medicine at reasonable dosages....it is STILL the patients responsiblity to take it the way it is prescribed. If I prescribe 90 pills of Percocet that doesn't mean you take 10 a day! If a doctor sees a patient going through his prescriptions too rapidly, then that is a sign that maybe the patient needs help.
Ultimately YOU are responsible for what the hell you put in your body and how much. If you are an addict, it is YOUR responsiblity to get clean, no one else's. Stop blaming doctors and dealers and put the blame where it belongs.
The doctors can play a large, and sometimes criminal role in promoting drug abuse, but you are correct in that the abusers are the ones responsible for their abuse. The doctors merely facilitate it, wittingly or unwittingly. I can tell you from personal experience how seductive the narcotics can become, and when your tolerance has increased due to long-term use, your natural response is to take more. Resisting that natural response is what you need to do, but a lot of people won't. At some point, the downward spiral starts, and a competent and caring doctor should begin to notice that, and take measures to ensure the spiral does not progress.
I have had pain so bad after surgery that even IV morphine didn't make much of a dent in it, and spent days screaming in agony simply from the act of breathing, because they removed half of my lung, breaking ribs in the process, as well as cutting nerves. Short of drugging me to the point of overdose, there was no way the pain could be completely suppressed, but with the morphine, it helped a little bit. Fortunately, and predictably, the pain subsided eventually, and the PCA box was disconnected from my IV, leaving percocet as my only pain killing drug.
I don't know why they even call them pain killers, since the pain is still there, as is the cause of it, but they do take your mind off of it so you can actually think. Almost two years later, I still have pain, but I don't take narcotics for it, having had to go through a tough withdrawal for weeks, and have learned to live with it, since it will probably never go away completely. All in all, I can function and enjoy life, and I am not doped into being a zombie any more. The one thing I can state with absolute certainty is that I never got high from any of these, and can't understand how others do.