Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.
The experience endured by patient Michael Hammond, described above, is a prime example of why the Nevada Legislature should consider modifying how the state monitors prescription drugs.
Current law requires the Nevada Pharmacy Board to keep records of prescriptions for controlled substances that have the most potential for causing addiction.
Records are assembled by tracking all such prescriptions filled at pharmacies registered with the board. The purpose of keeping the records, as stated by the law, is to obtain information concerning “the inappropriate use by a patient of controlled substances” and pass the information to doctors and other licensed prescribers and to the “appropriate state agencies.”
In other words, the records are kept as a way to prevent patients from abusing the drugs. The records would be useful, for example, in identifying people who go from doctor to doctor seeking prescriptions to satisfy an addiction.
Such people, once identified, could be criminally prosecuted or, more likely, encouraged to seek treatment.
The law also requires the Pharmacy Board or the Investigation Division of the Public Safety Department to report “any activity it reasonably suspects may be fraudulent or illegal” to the appropriate law enforcement agency or licensing board.
This would seem to include the reporting of a doctor such as Kevin Buckwalter, who prescribed Hammond as many as 1,170 powerful painkillers in a single month.
Why then was Dr. Buckwalter able to prescribe Hammond more than 20,000 potentially addictive pills over 3 1/2 years? Our reading of the law tells us that, one, Hammond should have been reported and questioned, and, two, the same goes for Buckwalter.
Our view is that the governor and the Legislature should review how this law is being interpreted and enforced. The review should be a priority in light of reporting by Las Vegas Sun reporters Marshall Allen and Alex Richards in July.
They documented that Nevadans’ consumption of several prescription painkillers is about twice the national average, and that more people in Clark County die from overdoses of prescription narcotics than from overdoses of illegal drugs or from car accidents.
We have a law that is supposed to be keeping prescription drug abuse in check. Why isn’t it working?
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy