Jan 31, 2006
By: JOHN TIERNEY
The New York Times
After I wrote last year about Richard Paey, the wheelchair-bound patient who’s been in physical agony for two decades, a lot of readers asked me what kind of monster could have prosecuted him for obtaining painkillers. If you watched “60 Minutes” Sunday, you could see for yourself.
Scott Andringa, [...]
Jan 24, 2006
By: Andis Robeznieks
Modernhealthcare.com
While some talk about an upcoming golden age of medicine where interoperable electronic medical-record systems allow doctors to share patient information and deliver the best healthcare as efficiently as possible, one use for collecting and sharing patient information continues to create controversy: state prescription-monitoring programs that electronically track the dispensing of [...]
Jan 24, 2006
By: John Tierney
The New York Times
Jennifer Riggle, a drug addict, was a star witness in the trial of her doctor, Bernard Rottschaefer. She testified that he had fondled her breasts in the examination room and then given her prescriptions for OxyContin and Xanax in return for sex.
In testimony in federal court two years [...]
Jan 21, 2006
By: Lindsay Nair
The Roanoke Times (VA)
Roanoke pain doctor Cecil Knox was stripped of his right to practice medicine and sentenced to five years of probation Friday, marking the end of what has been called both a legitimate prosecution and an unnecessary persecution.
The conclusion came as a relief to many in the packed federal [...]
Jan 21, 2006
By: JOHN TIERNEY
The New York Times
As the baby boomers age, more and more Americans will either be enduring chronic pain or taking care of someone in pain. The Republican
Party has been reaching out to them with a two-step plan:
Do not give patients medicine to ease their pain.
If they are in great pain and [...]
Jan 11, 2006
By: Melissa Nelson
Orlando Sentinel (FL)
A Florida Panhandle doctor’s zeal for prescribing highly addictive pain killers such as OxyContin caused six of his patients to overdose and die, a federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
But Dr. Thomas G. Merrill’s lawyers said his mistake was in placing too much trust in patients who exaggerated their pain [...]
