Doctor Shopping
By Colin Gilbert
After surviving a severe car accident two years ago, Sharon underwent a series of surgeries to repair broken bones in her arms and torso. To reduce pain during her long recovery process, her doctor prescribed a moderate dose of the opioid painkiller oxycodone.
The medicine helped Sharon tremendously, but after the prescription expired, she noticed the pain returning. Medical tests showed no further need for surgery, and, because of oxycodone’s notoriety for being addictive, her doctor was hesitant to renew her prescription at the same dose. Instead, he wrote her a prescription for a reduced dose, planning on gradually weaning her off. Unfortunately, the pain did not subside. It seemed to Sharon like only the original dose would end her misery.
Increasingly desperate for relief and frustrated with her doctor’s refusal to authorize a higher dose, Sharon visited another physician who specialized in pain. She told him about her accident and how oxycodone had been the only real help to her in the past. However, when he asked if she was currently taking any medications, she said no. It seemed to her like an innocent lie—just a little omission of information that would finally get her the comfort she desired.
The doctor agreed to write her a prescription for her original dose of oxycodone, but over time, even that didn’t completely eliminate the pain. Before she knew it, Sharon was in another doctor’s office, telling the same “innocent” lie that had worked before. She found herself addicted to the drug, with multiple prescriptions from different doctors. She had been “doctor shopping” to feed the dependency and now, in addition to the physical and mental terrors of her addiction, Sharon was in legal trouble.
Stories like Sharon’s are not uncommon. Whenever someone visits multiple doctors in an attempt to receive different prescriptions for the same drug, that person is said to be doctor shopping. Since there are laws governing the number of prescriptions that a patient can have written and filled, pulling off the stunt requires illicit behavior on the part of the patient, doctor, or pharmacist. The patient must deceive the doctors and pharmacists into thinking they are each the only ones prescribing and distributing the drug, or the doctor (or pharmacist) may be complicit in accommodating the patient’s wishes.
Addiction is often a factor in cases of doctor shopping. When a person becomes physically tolerant to a particular drug, they seek higher doses for the same effect. But when the desired dose exceeds the limits of customary practice, the patient may resort to doctor shopping as a last-ditch means of satisfaction.
Prescription drugs that are commonly involved with doctor shopping include opiate painkillers (like OxyContin and Vicodin) and sedatives (like Xanax and Ambien).
In 2006, DEA Deputy Assistant Administrator Joseph Rannazzisi identified doctor shopping as a growing problem in the United States. He also described the issue of prescription drug abuse as an “epidemic.” In response to the growing concern surrounding prescription drug dependency, legislators are toughening up on doctor shopping, and it is now illegal in some states.
