This week, the Senate passed a major bipartisan bill that addresses the opioid epidemic, one U.S. Senator Maria Catwell says will help in Washington state.
Just two years ago, 700 people in our state died of opioid overdoses, mostly in king, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
On Wednesday, sheriffs from each of those counties backed this new bill, saying the problem is so big, law enforcement can’t solve it alone.
“This notion that we are going to arrest out way out of this problem that a pair of handcuffs and a trip to jail that will somehow solve this epidemic is nonsense, “said Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary.
Opioid bill takes aim at doctors as well as pharmaceutical companies
There are four parts of the bill: prevention, expanded treatment coverage, funding for drug courts and holding drug manufacturers accountable.
If drug manufacturers are held accountable, Senator Cantwell said doctors must be held accountable too.
On Monday, she talked about the problem of doctors over-prescribing opioids and used the example of an Everett doctor who wrote thousands of opioid prescriptions over nine years.
KOMO News learned he’s now retired, but he has a paper trail with the Washington Medical Association, whose Deputy Director said the doctor was sanctioned last year for not meeting the standard of care when prescribing opioids to some chronic pain patients.
“We gotta stop it, otherwise we are going to keep increasing the opportunity for more and more people,” Cantwell said in Seattle at a news conference with local law enforcement, including Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Cantwell’s ‘more and more people’ refers to more opioids, more addictions and more deadly consequences.
The U.S. Senator not only points a finger at drug manufactures, but doctors too.
This is what she told lawmakers from the Senate Floor Monday, “In one example a physician from Washington wrote more than 10,000 prescriptions of opioids. This was 26 times higher than the average prescriber in Everett, Washington.”
We found that doctor, Dr. Donald Dillinger.
We wanted to ask him about those 10,000 opioid scripts, but no answer at his home. His Everett medical office closed and his voicemail said he retired.
The Attorney General’s office knows about him, too.
We discovered he’s was named in a lawsuit filed by the Washington Attorney General’s office in January for writing those 10,000 opioid prescriptions from 2007 to 2016.
Cantwell said spikes in drug distribution should be monitored and reported by drug manufacturers. She hopes proposed legislation that ups fines from $10,000 to $100,000 and in some cases up to a half a million dollars for violators will pass muster with other lawmakers.
“However, the drug manufacturer failed to report this suspicious activity,” said Cantwell.
Dr. Dillinger didn’t return our call, but we learned he was disciplined by the state in 2017 for ‘not meeting the standard of care for chronic pain patients’ said Micah Matthews, Deputy Director for the Washington Medical Association.
Public documents show the state restricted his license and put him on a compliance plan.
We learned today, the commission reopened its investigation after learning of the AG’s lawsuit.
“When the lawsuit was filed it became clear we didn’t have access to all the relevant records,” said Matthews.
The Commission is reviewing those additional records now.
“That’s disgusting to me honestly,” said Kelly an assistant occupational therapist, when she learned that Dr. Dillinger wrote thousands of prescriptions for opioids.
Kelly who is not connected to the case or the doctor said she encounters countless patients addicted and desperate for pain meds all the time.
“You see it all the time, they shop doctors and if they can’t get it from doctors they get it from the streets,” Kelly who didn’t want to reveal her last name.
Like the senator, she thinks the buck stops with manufactures and overprescribing doctors.
“They don’t need to prescribe so much meds because a patient will think they need to take all that,” said Kelly.
WMC’s Deputy Director said Dillinger disagreed with the charges and initial findings and took his case all the way to a formal hearing.
He said the commission determined the doctor violated the standard of care and assigned him two compliance officers.
It’s their job to make sure Practioners comply and are rehabilitated to good practice.
In October, Matthews said Dillinger informally surrendered his license to the WMC.
Matthews said since there was no mechanism in place to officially receive his medical license at the time, the state is currently negotiating the formal surrender of his license.
Matthews said reopening the investigation to look at records connected to the AG’s case may end up a moot point if they reach agreement on Dillinger’s license surrender.
The Commission recently adopted new comprehensive prescribing rules when it comes to opioids that would apply to acute, pre-operative and long term, but not chronic patients.
In those cases it limits the amount of opioids that can be dispensed at one time and requires monitoring and education requirements for providers.
Those new rules take effect in January of 2019.
Imagine this… the doctor wrote 10,000 prescriptions over 10 years.. that is NINETEEN Rx PER WEEK… or about FOUR RXS PER DAY… and the bureaucrats determined that he did not meet the standard of care for chronic pain patients
This TV station is really having to scrape the bottom of the barrel that the only quote that they could get from someone in health care that would tell them what they wanted to hear was:
“That’s disgusting to me honestly,” said Kelly an assistant occupational therapist, when she learned that Dr. Dillinger wrote thousands of prescriptions for opioids.
Kelly who is not connected to the case or the doctor said she encounters countless patients addicted and desperate for pain meds all the time.
“You see it all the time, they shop doctors and if they can’t get it from doctors they get it from the streets,” Kelly who didn’t want to reveal her last name.
Filed under: General Problems
Thank you, Steve for breaking down how small the number of legitimate opioid prescriptions REALLY ARE. False news, fake news, lack of news, exaggerated news, no clarity with only hard-to-decipher numbers provided by the media. Sickening. You rock, Steve!
Thank you too, Hayden!
Why isn’t mainstream media covering the chronic pain patient’s side of this story? We did get some local media coverage at the different rallies on 9/18. But they still don’t make it into prime time news. But the overdose deaths make it into whatever reporter’s media outlet they can get to. One reporter on one of FOX news has been the only prime time mention. And even then his fellow reporters on that show didn’t want to hear his facts. (I don’t know if FOX has actual reporters)
Why is death a better news story than pain patients losing access to their medication that allows them to have any quality of life. Some are even able to hold down jobs. They aren’t going to be able to do that for much longer.
Thank you Steve for breaking down to me how small the number of prescriptions he wrote…honestly, at first I thought Wow! thats a lot of prescriptions But u broke it down and thats nothing! So see how tricky the media is having one believe 10,000 is huge?
Thank you Hayden! You said it all!
As an intractable pain person…all I can do is feel hopeless.
Your right Steve. My thoughts exactly. Theyre scrapping up doctors from that long ago? Sounds like they need more money. They really should go after the real drug abusers, but they are making money for them in rehab. Here’s a quote for them from an average Joe” they suck”
It is insane to believe that they are really trying to stop addiction when at the same time they are trying to get these walk-in clinics for her ion addicts to shootup. These two opposite sides of the spectrum sums so much up for me. Any time government get involved in a problem they either take it so far to one extreme or the other and only make the problem so much worse.
This “opioid crisis” GESTAPO In America began with a few “experts” that made a life and death decision behind closed doors that has purposely taken dead aim at prescription MEDICATION and the doctors that are trying to honestly help us. An assistant occupational therapist is NOT qualified to even have a valid opinion about “addicts” OR legitimate pain management patients! My pain management spine specialist I am sure writes far more than “4” rx a day because that is what he has been educated ……to do. What the H is happening in this country that the DEA feels like they are pain management physicians and have a clue about what a patients everyday life……in continuous, severe, pain is like? I have began to call the CDC EVERY day on the 1-800 number and I ask and make sure that the phone call is recorded. The representatives that I speak to do mot seem to have a clue about how bad our live are like now. They are apologetic and “understanding” but, when I ask for ANY direction about how to mange my pain now that the “misguided-line” has been ENFORCED even though I have a stack of documentation about an inch thick now after 23 years of a “better”, more enabled, purpose in life………. all I get is silence. In my opinion, if the illicit substances, heroin, fentanyl,and cocaine, that is entering this county was TRULY trying to be stopped then I am SURE substance abuse and overdose would decrease. IF meth production right here in America adding to substance abuse/use along with plenty of “legal” alcohol in the mix for a more profound “high” was actually tried to be stopped along with the entry of the other illicit substances I mentioned, maybe the overdose numbers would actually be reduced instead of increasing. It has been about two years now that our doctors were forced to reduce patients INVOLUNTARILY in medication and the stated “decision” to create a “conversion opiate medication chart’ to limit ALL patients to 90 or 100 milligrams of “morphine equivalent” that is adequate for every single pain management patient without regard to patient documentation, is failing.to adequately manage pain for millions of patients treated with opiate/opioid medication for years and decades. It is now FULLY realized that the stated intended goal to reduce “opioid overdose” by reducing needed medication is FAILING miserably, it is evident that ALL patients have been convicted of being the primary cause of overdose on “opioids” without ANY type of due process and it is is simply a communistic approach and illegal..What has happened to evidence based approach to solve a serious issue which is “SUBSTANCE ABUSE” inclusive of alcohol and Jesus Christ knows what else? There is a LEGITIMATE use for effective AND different dosages of opiate/opioid medication to manage many different pain generating/crippling and disabling diseases and “incurable”, injury that causes lifetime, continuous, severe pain that will continue as long as people exist.or until a miracle drug or other therapy or other “therapy” is discovered to take the place of the last known medication to ease human suffering, A human being does not have to be diagnosed with a cancer to suffer severe, intolerable, non stop pain. People are taking their own lives that have NEVER “diverted” their personal medication. I would NEVER have believed that people who ARE suffering continuously with intolerable pain would be subjected to medication reduction and blamed for an ” opioid crisis” solely because they are prescribed sufficient pain medication that enables and gives “purpose” to continue living. I apologize for being so long winded but, this “opioid crisis” has become a life and death situation for millions of unfortunate pain management patients.
THIS IS PURE AND SIMPLE GOVERNMENT & MEDIA BULL$H?T. The US Government and US Law Enforcement CAN’T reign in ILLEGAL drugs freely coming across our boarders, the Media finds the easiest targets; pain patients, docs, ad nauseam
This kind of crappy media coverage gives the money-making DRUG DEALERS the great high feeling they love & live for $$$. Knowing just how stupid some people think while the dealers are selling ILLEGAL drugs on every street corner in every city in America. They sure gotcha, America!
Good job US Govt! Good job for getting this illegal drug crisis so utterly screwed up %#?!& and thanks trusted media outlets for the same thing. #ILLEGALDRUGSAREKILLINGAMERICA
That’s part of the problem as Steve points out,,,people w/no education or experience w/the MEDICINE opiates make comments like this ,”Kelly,”,,thinking she has the right to decide for others how much forced physical pain another human being is to forcible endure!!!!not ,”kellys’ right to torture anyone,,maryw
Oh good grief…gosh, maybe he …treated a lot of paion patients because there weren’t any other doctors in the frigging state willing to do so. Four a day? I can’t even come up with sufficient curse words in my thoughts for the idiocy of this story. And I just LOVE the assistant occupational therapist who meets “countless” addicted patients trying to get drugs. Seriously? An assistant occupational therapist?? A step up from a receptionist, I suppose, but not exactly a reliable source, fa God’s sake. I’m sure all the drug addicts in the country race to assistant occupational therapists when they need a fix.
Arrrrrrrgh.
“Scraping the bottom of the barrel” is a highly complimentary way to describe it.
A complete evaluation of HR 6 is available to members of Doctors of Courage. There is a 7-day free trial of membership. So much is available to help end this fiasco on DoC, once you join you’ll want to stay.
Maybe it’s just me, but if they’re so courageous maybe they could be brave enough not to force people to pay to join.