Wow. This reminds me of a situation that is very close to home for me. Yes, rocketman is very correct… my old very sweet old-school doctor got shut down by the DEA about four months ago. He went from having a full practice with 85 patients to being shut down in one day, with a line of patients waiting outside for medications they desperately needed. He did not lose his doctor's license entirely, but he lost his license to prescribe Suboxone and other substance abuse/pain related treatment drugs... from my understanding he is not allowed to prescribe any controlled substance. He was in the process of retiring, very slowly referring patients to other pain clinics or cutting a few patients that did not show up for appointments or who were "problem patients", as he put it. The patient who reported him to the board was caught selling her medication and taking heroin. Repeatedly. He gave her multiple chances, put her in special groups… She continued to break rules that risked his license. She'd been kicked off of the program for very valid reasons. But she was pissed and she reported him for "sexual-harassment" and a bunch of other false drug related issues. He was 81 years old, a devout Catholic and would never sexually harass anyone! His wife worked in the clinic with him as a receptionist. The mere idea of it is laughable it's so absurd. His memory was going a bit due to his age, so he did break the law by pre-writing scripts before patients came in, leaving them blank so he could fill them in depending on how they did on their urine screen, their current dosages, etc... When the DEA went in to his office they found the scripts that were pre-written and a bottle of medication that he had confiscated from a client that had been abusing other drugs where the combination was potentially lethal. I guess that both of these things are illegal and were there reason for him being shut down on the spot. It's very possible there is more to the story, but that's all that I know. The officials that shut him down that day couldn't have cared less about the patients outside or the rest of his clients. I was lucky enough to find another doctor due to having a good record, a lot of people were left without a doctor and ended up going back to street drugs. I know that my old doctor didn't do everything by the book, he was very old but was truly was trying to help his patients. I will admit that he was very liberal with his prescribing... especially if you were a compliant patient that didn't miss appointments, run out of medication early, didn't have dirty urine screens and didn't cause him problems.
I truly felt bad for the way he was shut down like that, and I saw a lot of people hurting due to being cut off without notice. The officials on the scene told the patients outside to go to the emergency room… where of course they were not helped in any way if they did go. Honestly, he probably should have retired years earlier but he felt responsible for his patients and knew that in our area there are few to almost no other Suboxone doctors around. I got very very lucky in that I went in once a month and I had seen him two days prior to him being shut down. It bought me some time. Others weren't so lucky. The DEA agents that shut my old doctor down were cruel to the patients outside, treating them like they were the scum of the earth. You would think that these people would have some sort of training when it comes to addiction. It didn't stop there. The DEA went through the doctors files, found people that were labeled as problem patients and went to their houses asking to search their property. They never came to my house, but I heard about it from a few patients. Crazy and sad. That doctor had devoted his life trying to help people suffering from addiction and acute pain disorders, he was not a perfect doctor but his heart was in the right place. It was sad to see his career end on such a sour note. They even put an article in the paper about it, I'm sure that his entire family felt disgraced. So I ended up with the doctor and I currently have now. I think in the end it will be a good thing for me and terms of detoxing off of subs, but there's no doubt it was a shock of a change.
In my experience, the DA is filled with a bunch of heartless assholes who see addicts in recovery and pain clients as losers, criminals and scumbags.... they seem to have zero empathy for their battle with addiction.
The fact that all it took was one illegitimate call to the state board to shut down at Dr. that had been practicing for six decades says a lot. Sadly, my doctor didn't even realize he was doing anything illegal.
On a happier note, my drug screen came up completely normal and my new doc is very happy with me for being honest with him regardless of the fact that I knew that odds were in my favor for passing my urine test if I had lied about it. I will have to be careful in the future, but I only go in once a month. So a happy ending there…
I admit I am extremely relieved and happy with the decision that I made to be honest with him.
And now I am off to go roller skating! Have a great night everyone!
