Welcome to the Nexus of Ethics, Psychology, Morality, Philosophy and Health Care

Welcome to the nexus of ethics, psychology, morality, technology, health care, and philosophy

Thursday, June 30, 2016

When regulators close a 'pill mill,' patients sometimes turn to heroin

By Rich Lord
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Originally published May 25, 2016

Here is an excerpt:

In late 2013, Maryland launched its prescription drug monitoring program, allowing — but not requiring — doctors to access a database to see the drug histories of their patients. Nearly every state has such a system, designed to thwart people who seek drugs from multiple doctors. Some state medical boards use the data to flag physicians whose prescribing goes out of bounds.

Maryland’s board, though, can’t tap into the data “without going through major legal hoops,” Dr. Singh said. Physician groups, he said, have opposed efforts to ease access, because they fear “over-policing.”

Maryland has not adopted official opioid prescribing guidelines, as some states have.

The article is here.