"Doctor Shopping" an Increasing Problem

As some may know, celebrity Corey Haim, recently died from abusing drugs. Haim had prescriptions for various harmful drugs during the final year of his life. These prescriptions were the outcomes of "doctor shopping". Doctor shopping is when an individual asks different doctors to obtain prescription drugs. This issue is worsening and has affected numerous celebrities such as Health Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith. The medical director of Addiction Psychiatry at Aurora Behavioral Health Services in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Dr. Lance Longo, stated, "We're trained to relieve pain and suffering. Unfortnately, with the widespread misuse of controlled substances and diversion risks, we're often taken advantage of." There are different ways that individuals get their prescription drugs. One of them is by going to new facilities so the medical professionals don't know them. Another way is to call the facilities and say an excuse to get prescription refills.

Doctor shopping is a significant issue because many individuals abuse the prescription drugs which can lead to death. A recent study estimated from 1999 to 2006 that the hospitalizations for poisoning from sedatives and tranquilzers expanded 65 percent.

States have tried to prevent future drug abusers by having prescription monitoring programs. Each of these programs have different requirements and some are more effective than others. After the individual buys the prescription drug, the record is then transmitted to the state agency that watches over the monitoring programs. In addition, doctors are able to request reports online to see the kinds of medications that the patient has purchased. Another way that states have tried to prevent future drug abusers is by performing addiction screening in clinics. If an individual is at a high risk for addiction, the clinic tries to find them and will have a pain psychologist examine them. The clinics can also test the patient's urine to see if it matches the patient's medication history.

Even though the states have created this programs, many individuals are still able to obtain the drugs in other ways. The individual can give a different name and identification number or purchase the drugs in an another state. Since the majority of state laws don't demand the doctors to look at the patient's drug history, it is fairly easy for individuals to get the drugs in a different state. In addition, many health professionals do not prefer to use the monitoring system because they think it is unnecessary and too time consuming.

I'm glad that the states are taking action to prevent future drug abusers. There have been many individuals who have died from abusing prescription drugs. Although the states have monitoring programs, it's still not that efficient because many individuals have found other ways to get the drugs. Therefore, the states need to find more efficient ways to solve this issue.