Medical Board’s Initiative To Try To Curb Opioid Epidemic Leaves California Doctors Terrified
The project takes death certificates in which prescription opioids are listed as a cause, then matches each with the provider who prescribed any controlled substance to that patient within three years of death, regardless of whether the particular drug caused the death or whether that doctor prescribed the lethal dose. After looking at that material, peer reviewers determine which doctors warrant an investigation.
Medpage Today:
'Death Certificate Project' Terrifies California Doctors
Brian Lenzkes, MD, got a letter last December from the Medical Board of California that left him shocked and scared. The licensing agency told him it had received a "complaint filed against you" regarding a patient who died of a prescription overdose in May 2013 -- four and a half years earlier. (Clark, 8/30)