PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

AAFP pens directive against limiting pain prescriptions

A preemptive strike is issued against government intervention in physicians' OxyContin prescribing decisions.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Sept. 10, 2001.

The American Academy of Family Physicians is concerned that the nation's state attorneys general may place some limits on family physicians prescribing the painkiller OxyContin (oxycodone hydrochloride).

Bruce Bagley, MD, AAFP board chair, wrote a letter in August to the attorneys general, stating that restricting prescriptions would hurt patients who take the drug to relieve chronic and severe pain. Federal and state officials have been exploring ways, such as curbing distribution of OxyContin, to stop illegal use of the drug -- which is being abused in several states, mainly in the Southeast.

"There's no evidence to show that [limiting prescriptions] would be effective. The side effect is it would reduce the legitimate use of OxyContin to the people who need it," said Dr. Bagley, whose practice is in Albany, N.Y.

The potential impact is great: 21% of the six million prescriptions written in 2000 for the painkiller were done by family physicians and general practitioners, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"I don't know what I would do if I had to stop writing it," said Neil Brooks, MD, a family physician in Vernon, Conn. "It obviously would affect those of us who have become experienced in treating pain."

The National Assn. of Attorneys General in May held the first meeting of its Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force to develop strategies to stop illegal use of drugs, particularly OxyContin. Possible actions include increased law enforcement efforts and community education initiatives. [...]

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