Physicians or Drug Dealers?

Have you been to the psychiatrist, orthopedic, or even your primary care doctor recently? Chances are you were able to score on a pill of your choice, a pain killer or a relaxer, something highly addictive despite its medical benefits.

The problem is not that doctors are prescribing these drugs but that they are over prescribing them. When a patient comes in to your office that is clearly hooked on Percocet and would honestly wait in your waiting room for 4 hours just for the magic script that will allot him 90 pills in one month, then isn't it against some medical code to give the patient what they want, instead of what is more beneficial to their overall health?

Let's begin with the fact that John Smith Patient continually sees Dr. So and So for a pain injury for over 10 years. For ten years Smith has been taking Vicodin with a side of Xanax and for ten years Dr. So and So has been happily writing the script. But the patient is hooked, he can't function without his pain killers and he gets irritable when he doesn't get his pills on time. Smith doesn't work because he's collecting disability due to his injury so now he sits home and pops pills in front of the tv.

Dr. So and So knows all the side effects to the medications he's prescribing; it's his job. He knows very well that they are addictive and most of all that patients are not supposed to be on them long term. But he gives them anyway...why?
Maybe because they are a sure fire way for patients to return monthly and with each monthly visit doctors get to bill the insurance companies for a follow up visit when all they did was write patients like John Smith a script. When you get many patients like John Smith perhaps they seem less like people whose lives are being destroyed by prescription drugs and more like very easy dollar signs.

So what exactly is the function of physicians these days? Are they caretakers who nurture our health and teach us to better take care of ourselves or are they partnering with drug companies to make some quick bucks off of our stupidity and vulnerability?

It looks as though we must enlighten ourselves before seeing our doctors, learn about the pills we take before we swallow them. Because despite the government regulations on narcotics, they are very easy to get. In fact, I haven't met many people who haven't come in contact with them some way or another.

Perhaps healthcare reform should start focusing on these doctors that prescribe narcotics for too much and for too long.