Nurse, Hand Me My Glock

Not exactly what you expect to hear from the doctor, is it?

I just attended a Pain Seminar sponsored by the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians (AADEP). One of their speakers was a DEA agent who works mostly in Houston (that’s where the conference was held).

If you guessed that a number of physicians would take issue with the way the DEA goes about their business, you would be correct.

Several suggested that the DEA prevented ethical doctors from dispensing pain-relieving narcotics to honest, suffering patients. They related stories of physicians losing their DEA licenses due to a clerical error. Or because that physician treated (with narcotics) a large number of sufferers other doctors had rejected.

The DEA agent listened patiently to these and other complaints. She indicated the DEA was not so much interested in the treatment per se, but rather the medical records (or lack thereof) that supported the treatment. But then she said, “Let me show you the types of practices we frequently see.”

Her PowerPoint then showed a dingy lobby where the staff sat behind bulletproof glass. Each staff position had a firearm adjacent to it. The physician carried a Glock on his belt. Office equipment included a high speed cash counter like you would see in a bank or on The Sopranos. Cash only. No insurance, no checks, no credit cards.

No further questions or comments were offered. Even those who championed the pain doctors working in rougher neighborhoods were stunned. It looked like working in a war zone, yet it was in Houston, the city where we were sitting.

The fight against illegal prescription drugs is just that, a fight. Don’t finance it through neglect, inattention or indifference.

 

 

 

Call us. We can do better.

William Faris, JD
Chief Executive Officer
502-495-5040
william.faris@omca.biz
www.omca.biz

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