CURES

In a hearing before the California Supreme Court, Justices appeared unconvinced that the state Medical Board should be barred from consulting the state’s prescription drug database in order to discipline drug-dealing and over-prescribing doctors.
 
At issue is the unusual claim that doctors can assert their patients’ privacy rights in order to insulate themselves from disciplinary procedures which are designed to protect patients from substandard care.
 

I just talked to Bob Pack, who learned that the Governor has signed into law legislation requiring that doctors check an existing prescription database before prescribing narcotics to patients for the first time.
 
The new law would have prevented the deaths of his young children, Troy and Alana, who were run over on a roadside twelve years ago by an addict with multiple prescriptions who fell asleep at the wheel.  
 

JUNE 14, 2016 UPDATE: This morning, the Assembly Business and Professions committee voted 16-0 for SB 482 by Senator Lara, to rein in opioid over-prescribing and curb the overdose epidemic.  Prince’s death, and the loss of thousands of Californians every year, has helped spur lawmakers to stand above politics and stand up for reform.