DRUG DANGERS

In the July 31 N&O, a letter writer urged readers to file HIPAA
complaints to prevent release of confidential information about their
prescriptions for controlled substances such as codeine and
hydrocodone. First of all, such use of information is legal,
according to HIPAA. And it remains confidential -- it can be released
only to authorized persons, including doctors and pharmacists.

The collection of such information is intended to reduce deaths from
drug overdoses by enabling doctors and pharmacists to check on what
other prescriptions a patient might be obtaining elsewhere. Some
patients dangerously obtain multiple prescriptions for their own use
from multiple doctors. This system will help their doctors identify
this and get them additional medical help.

And this confidential information is needed for law enforcement. Some
"patients" obtain prescriptions from multiple doctors in order to
sell drugs on the street. And some doctors (very few, it must be
said) prescribe drugs recklessly, sometimes for profit ("prescription
mills"), resulting in large amounts of dangerous drugs being used in
an unsupervised manner. To save lives, law enforcement needs to know
where the problems and abuses are. The patients who are legally using
controlled substances should be glad; the others: beware.

Kay Sanford

Durham