Bill might have cut county deaths from prescribed drugs

Despite 400 to 500 drug overdose deaths a year in Clark County alone, primarily from prescription drugs, the Nevada Legislature didn’t pass a bill requiring drug abuse deaths be reported to the Board of Medical Examiners or the Board of Osteopathic Medicine so they could investigate the doctor’s role.

It was deemed too costly.

Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, a physician, thought Senate Bill 168 would help officials fight the scourge of prescription drug abuse by requiring that drug deaths be reported by the coroner to the two respective medical boards. But that was stripped from the bill.

So was another provision that would have given the state Board of Pharmacy and the coroner the right to tell the two medical boards when doctors who wrote prescriptions that were 95 percent higher than others in their respective specialties. Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, worried that might affect end-of-life treatment where pain medication is prescribed, so that too was gone with the wind.

The Department of Health and Human Services expressed concern about a $15,000-a-year cost of reporting serious events at medical facilities when anesthesia is involved. That was sliced out.

Anything that cost money disappeared from this bill sought by the Board of Medical Examiners. The entire bill carried a fiscal note of $431,000 each year. By the time it was amended and tougher reporting requirements were eliminated, there was no fiscal impact.

Hardy wasn’t bitter; he’s a realist. “This wasn’t the climate to do everything we wanted.” The bill that passed still had some worthwhile language, he said.

Nevada’s effort to pinpoint doctors who overprescribe drugs made no headway in this Legislature. Another missed opportunity because of belt-tightening.

PAIN DOCTOR FINED: The Legislature’s inaction doesn’t mean the medical boards aren’t watching out for prescription drug abuse.

The Board of Osteopathic Medicine settled a case Tuesday with Dr. Phil Chen, D.O., a local pain management doctor. The board had filed two complaints against Chen involving separate patients.

Patient A, a woman, was suspected of abusing the medications Chen provided her for a knee injury. He was accused of overprescribing dangerous drugs to her, and she was suspected of selling the drugs when a blood test showed some of the drugs weren’t in her system.

Patient B, a man who claimed a sports injury, had been treated by two other doctors who stopped treating him and wrote in their records he had an addiction problem. Yet Chen began prescribing painkillers when the patient said his pain level was 2 out of 10 and kept prescribing to him after the patient admitted he was getting methadone from a friend.

Chen was accused of malpractice, unethical behavior, improper care and treatment related to recordkeeping, and unprofessional conduct.

In the settlement, Chen made no admission of guilt but pleaded “no contest.” He agreed to a $65,000 fine, his license will be suspended for three months starting July 15, and he agreed to never dispense prescription drugs from his practice as long as he practices in Nevada.

He’ll be on probation for three years, and the board placed restrictions requiring he take classes and work under the oversight of another doctor. His ability to write prescription painkillers was restricted and will be monitored by the board.

Court records show Chen also has an unresolved wrongful death lawsuit filed against him.

Rudy Rosado, a 24-year-old security guard, died of an overdose of methadone and oxycodone in 2009. His parents allege Chen had a duty to taper off or stop prescribing pain medications to their son after a toxicology report showed he was taking other drugs besides those prescribed.

Painkillers can be lifesavers, or they can be killers. That’s why more than one person a day dies in Clark County from “controlled” substances obtained with a doctor’s prescription.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison