Physician to be sentenced for 2nd degree murder conviction in patient overdose case

[confettiflyer]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...overdose-drugs-sentencing-20160205-story.html

Thoughts from the peanut gallery? While the charges against her were pretty egregious (prescribing to a husband so the wife could get double the pills, falsifying medical records), not sure if a 2nd degree murder charge was appropriate. If anything, she should have gotten her license revoked and that's it. I think this will have a chilling effect on prescribing habits that could ensnare legitimate patients. That, and heroin is super cheap now.

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[zelman]

I wouldn't say the murder conviction was easily justified for the first patient death. However, by the third death she was engaging in activities that had already killed two people. That is murder. 100%.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

The government needs to start giving out free heroin like they do in The Netherlands. Problems solved.

 

[owlegrad]

Interesting. How long before pharmacists are targeted I wonder?

 

[fewaopi]

drug dealers kill heck a lot more people and don't get charged with murder.

i also don't agree with the verdict, malpractice, lose license, not murder though. i mean i can see if i was a parent/spouse or w/e i would've loathed the doctor for getting them addicted, help them overdose, what not, i guess the line of personal responsibility is pretty gray.

the patients/"victims" (at least one) were not exactly "victims"

"was convicted of murder for the deaths......an Arizona State University student who prosecutors say traveled more than 300 miles with friends from Tempe, Ariz., to obtain prescriptions"

Weapons dealers knowingly sell weapons to people who use it to kill each other and innocents, they don't get charged for murder...(apples and oranges but I mean if you're talking about which is more evil....hmm idk)

She enabled and exploited them but didn't murder them, the kids did it themselves. I don't see any pharmacists involved, shouldn't there have been a red flag for the pharmacist? Unless they hit multiple pharmacies. I guess pharmacists in this case weren't targeted cause how would you honestly know? Even if you used the PMP it's not 100%. So i don't think pharmacists are gonna get targeted unless you're well-aware there's abuse.

 

[zelman]

drug dealers kill heck a lot more people and don't get charged with murder...

I call BS. Doctors kill more.


2010 Drug Overdose Mortality Data In Detail,
Drug Overdose Total 38,329
Pharmaceutical Drugs 22,134

Paulozzi et al analyzed mortality figures and found that of 38,329 drug overdose deaths then reported in 2010, pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 22,134 deaths, of which 16,651 were opiod analgesic overdoses. The data were apparently revised slightly between the time the research letter was published in JAMA (February 2013) and release of the CDC's Deaths: Final Data for 2010 publication report, officially dated May 8, 2013.

- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#.dpuf

 

[confettiflyer]

Interesting. How long before pharmacists are targeted I wonder?

That's what I was thinking of with the requirements to look up dispense history with CURES.

But i think pharmacists have a lot more data/tools to work with than individual prescribers. We're used to being narcotic police.

 

[MatCauthon]

We need a national controlled drug database. I live in a border-town and have too many patients travel between different states to avoid detection.

Doctors also need to put their foot down on patient excuses: lost prescriptions, stolen medications, early refills, going out of town requests, such and such generic didn't work, shorted by the pharmacy, etc.

 

[meister]

So glad I rarely have to prescribe narcotics, screw that. Legalize heroin, gtfo of pain clinics and the ED.

 

[Digsbe]

Honestly, in cases of misuse by the patient and when the dose is properly prescribed I don't think that should be murder. Maybe malpractice if negligence and ethical considerations are involved, but not murder unless there was deliberate intent or if it's believed that the goal of the physician was to kill their patient.

How many drug lords or dealers are charged with murder when they illegally sell drugs to someone that resulted in a fatal OD?

It sounds like she was running a shady pill mill of a clinic, but ultimately the patients misused the medication. In the article it said a patient died because they mixed xanax with oxy's and alcohol (and I've venture to say they took more than prescribed). If a patient is properly counseled on a medication and the prescription is for a legit reason and the pharmacist dispensing did proper counselling but the patient chose to abuse or misuse the med I don't think any legal repercussion should fall the practitioners. That's just justice, and I'd bet it's due to families taking out their sadness and anger on the wrong people since they don't want to admit that their friend or relative was abusing meds.

If the practitioners did everything right and acted ethically there shouldn't be any law against that. That's like suing a liquor store for legally selling alcohol to someone who chose to drink and drive and got themselves in a fatal accident.

 

[Corpseman]

Reminds me of this story...., Long but well worth the read

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/05/prescription-for-disaster

 

[Amicable Angora]

Our nation, where personal responsibility is irrelevant.

 

[Sine Cura]

The government needs to start giving out free heroin like they do in The Netherlands. Problems solved.

Our nation, where personal responsibility is irrelevant.

So glad I rarely have to prescribe narcotics, screw that. Legalize heroin, gtfo of pain clinics and the ED.

+1

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...overdose-drugs-sentencing-20160205-story.html

Thoughts from the peanut gallery? While the charges against her were pretty egregious (prescribing to a husband so the wife could get double the pills, falsifying medical records), not sure if a 2nd degree murder charge was appropriate. If anything, she should have gotten her license revoked and that's it. I think this will have a chilling effect on prescribing habits that could ensnare legitimate patients. That, and heroin is super cheap now.

Out of every 100 "pain-management" non-cancer patients I've dispensed opioids for, only 1 or 2 actually had their regimen actually tapered and for the rest, business as usual (use some to beat a drug screen, sell some to make some money and fuel this "white" epidemic of prescription opioid abuse). 99% of them present their opioid "PRN" scripts like clockwork. So yes, let there be a chilling effect because I'm tired of arguing with people why I won't fill methadone 10 mg #540 + norco 10/325 mg #360 for "trigeminal neuralgia" and other bull**** combos

 

[npage148]

I'm ok with it, it's pretty obvious you are nothing more than a dealer when your patients start dropping of ODs and other details in the article.

Maybe if we start putting away the obvious ones like this and our local doctor who was exchanging landscaping for scripts we'll see a retraction of opiate prescribing by more "well-meaning" prescribers. It's a slow train wreck watching someone with relatively minor pain (typically worsened by comorbidities) go to one of these doctors and go from a few T&C a month to waiting for us to open so they can get the opana er40 and oxy15. At that point they are lost.

 

[BenJammin]

It's a long read but well worth the time if you can find the California board of pharmacy report on the pharmacy that filled most of her prescriptions.

 

[confettiflyer]

It's a long read but well worth the time if you can find the California board of pharmacy report on the pharmacy that filled most of her prescriptions.

Good tip, I found the LAT article discussing pharmacies and addiction, part of a larger/more in depth series released a few years ago.

http://graphics.latimes.com/prescription-drugs-part-three/

Was it Pacifica Pharmacy in Huntington Beach?

 

[BenJammin]

Good tip, I found the LAT article discussing pharmacies and addiction, part of a larger/more in depth series released a few years ago.

http://graphics.latimes.com/prescription-drugs-part-three/

Was it Pacifica Pharmacy in Huntington Beach?

Yes it was and I found the PDF of the decision.

http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/enforcement/fy1011/ac103802.pdf

 

[Drugsarefun2350]

Yes it was and I found the PDF of the decision.

http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/enforcement/fy1011/ac103802.pdf

You'd think that the writers of this document would a least know the difference between oxycontin(oxycodone) and opana er (oxymorphone)

 

[Lnsean]

murder is a bit harsh for this me thinks...just a bunch of wannabe super DA's looking to make an example out of someone and it had to be this

 

[Caffeine QAM]

I agree...it doesn't fit the definition of murder. Negligent homicide, I say. Either way, it sends a powerful message. I don't think prescribers managing pain properly should change their practice out of fear because of this ruling. Really, if they document properly and don't do anything shady, they should not get into trouble.

 

[Momus]

She was selling script for $300 a pop to anyone with a pulse as a family doctor. Her patients were in and out less than 5 mins with narcotics scripts on hand. No proper screening no diagnosis. She was making $5 mil in 3 yrs. Her clienteles are nothing but drug addicts and she said so herself. She wasn't changing her practice after multiple of her young patients died. If you are that dumb raising red flags left and right, your greedy dumb ass deserves to be in prison forever.

 

[Caffeine QAM]

She was selling script for $300 a pop to anyone with a pulse as a family doctor. Her patients were in and out less than 5 mins with narcotics scripts on hand. No proper screening no diagnosis. She was making $5 mil in 3 yrs. Her clienteles are nothing but drug addicts and she said so herself. She wasn't changing her practice after multiple of her young patients died. If you are that dumb raising red flags left and right, your greedy dumb ass deserves to be in prison forever.

Right...not talking about what she deserves though, just whether it fits the legal definition or not. Irreverent disregard for life, promoting drug abuse for self profit...I agree. Life in prison.

 

[BenJammin]

She was selling script for $300 a pop to anyone with a pulse as a family doctor. Her patients were in and out less than 5 mins with narcotics scripts on hand. No proper screening no diagnosis. She was making $5 mil in 3 yrs. Her clienteles are nothing but drug addicts and she said so herself. She wasn't changing her practice after multiple of her young patients died. If you are that dumb raising red flags left and right, your greedy dumb ass deserves to be in prison forever.

This is exactly why she gets zero sympathy from me. She made millions off of drug addicts. A true white collar criminal.

 

[ldiot]

Clearly a pill mill and the physician should do hard time, no question about it, but it simply isn't murder. Seems stupid.