Picture a drug abuser and you may think of a bum in ragged clothes. There is a new kind of abuser in town. Middle to upper class women and men addicted to prescription painkillers.
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These abusers do not purchase their drugs from pushers in an alley– they doctor shop. They go from one doctor to another, describing their symptoms, asking for prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, viocodin, and percocet.
These individuals my not know that law enforcement does not consider doctor shopping harmless or a victimless crime. It is a felony and can lead to five years in prison.
Abuse of prescription drugs can start with a real need. Patients can become dependent on painkillers prescribed after surgery or serious injury. Their own physicians can keep prescribing the medications by accident or inattention. When that doctor finally refuses to continue the medication, the patient shifts to another — or several other – doctors, asking for pain relief medication.
Several states have instituted PDMPs (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs). These programs allow pharmacies and physicians to cross check patients and prescriptions and identify – called red flagging – individuals who are filling multiple prescriptions for the same medications. Red-flagged individuals are monitored carefully and allowed to use only one pharmacy and one doctor.
Hospital emergency departments are also involved in doctor shopping because patients go in, apparently in acute pain, demanding relief. The emergency physician has no relationship or history with the patient and is very likely to prescribe at least a small amount of painkillers.
As more medical records are computerized, doctor shopping should become increasingly difficult.
