WHY BLAME THE DOCTOR?

Re: Doctor guilty in OxyContin case, Feb. 20.

I can understand where Dr. James Graves was a little indiscriminate in
prescribing medication, but you shouldn't blame the doctor for the
addicts who took the medication in a manner that wasn't prescribed. If
those patients had taken the medication as prescribed they would still
be alive today. I blame the addicts, not the doctor, for deception and
their own demise. I know people who take OxyContin and they abuse it,
too, but is it the doctor's fault?

If you're going to start convicting doctors, let's start with the
doctors to the stars who give them anything they want. I have yet to
see them in court. What about Elvis Presley's doctors? This is exactly
the reason people in chronic pain have such a hard time getting pain
medication: The doctors are afraid they could be blamed for their
patient's ignorance or addiction.

M. ORTT
St. Pete Beach