Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Charged With Taking Millions Of Dollars In Return For Prescribing Opioids To Patients Who Didn't Need Them
The New York Times: Prescriptions For Millions Of Opioid Pills Lead To Charges Against 5 Doctors
It was not hard to tell when the doctor was in at the Staten Island office of Carl Anderson. Noisy crowds of people, some with visible signs of drug addiction, stood in long lines at all hours of the night, seeking prescriptions for oxycodone pills, the authorities said Thursday. Sometimes, the noise outside Dr. Anderson’s office got so loud that it prompted neighbors to call the police, and more than once ambulances were called to treat pill-seeking patients, a series of new indictments show. Several patients, including two of his employees, overdosed and died, the authorities said. (Weiser, 10/11)
The Wall Street Journal: ‘Drug Dealers In White Coats’
One of the doctors, Dante Cubangbang, 50 years old of Nassau County, is accused of selling more than 6 million oxycodone pills from a Queens medical center since January 2012, the most prescriptions of the narcotic in the state, Mr. Berman said. Dr. Cubangbang, as well as one of his nurses and clinic employees, received more than $5 million dollars in cash for their dealings, Mr. Berman said. “Instead of caring for their patients, these doctors were drug dealers in white coats,” he said. “They hid behind their medical licenses to sell addictive, dangerous narcotics.” (Kanno-Youngs, 10/11)
In other news on the national drug epidemic —
Nashville Tennessean: Opioids: A Tennessee Prescriber's Most Alarming Prescriptions
The Tennessee Department of Health is attempting to revoke the nursing license of Christina Collins, a nurse practitioner who was once one of the top opioid prescribers in the state. State officials have said Collins’ prescriptions were so "colossal" that their only reasonable purpose was suicide or drug trafficking. She wrote these prescriptions in 2011 and 2012 while working for Bearden Health Associates, a pain clinic in the Knoxville suburbs. (Kelman, 10/11)
Nashville Tennessean: Opioids: Tennessee Nurse Prescribed A Patient 51 Pills A Day
This massive prescription — 51 pills a day with an opioid dosage more than 31 times the current recommendation of the government — was issued eight years ago by Christina Collins, a Knoxville-area nurse practitioner who was once one of the top opioid prescribers in Tennessee. This prescription would have almost certainly killed anyone who actually tried to consume it, state officials say, but Collins regularly issued prescriptions like this one in 2011 and 2012, sending hundreds of thousands of pills into the communities of eastern Tennessee, where the opioid crisis hit hard. In state records, the Department of Health has said that Collins' contributions to the epidemic are "obvious and appalling" and that her prescriptions were “so colossal” that their only reasonable use would be drug trafficking or suicide. (Kelman, 10/12)
WMFE: Firefighters In Orange County Will Leave Naloxone Behind With Families After Responding To A Suspect
Orange County firefighters will now pass out the opioid reversal drug naloxone to the family members of people suspected of an overdose. The executive order allowing naloxone to be given to family members went into effect more than two years ago. (Prieur, 10/11)
