Tampa Pharmaceutical Negligence Lawyer Comments on Latest Pill Mill Crackdown

Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) April 25, 2012 – Pain clinics that operate without a license or overprescribe pain medication have been the recent targets of Florida law enforcement.

Since a law was put in place in mid 2011, Florida has cracked down on clinics and doctors that prescribe excessive amounts of pain pills. Doctor shopping, shoddy prescription practices, and makeshift pain clinics have dramatically decreased, but there is still more work to do.

“The damage that is done to a person at these pill mills can be extensive,” said Tampa pill mill attorney Robert Joyce, of Joyce & Reyes law firm. “Doctors, pharmacists, and unlicensed persons who operate these clinics can be liable when they do not research the person’s medical history and health and the person dies or is left with a lifelong injury.”

Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program should be used as a best practice to check to see whether a patient has been doctor shopping and to review a patient’s prescription drug history. Safer prescription drug use and less drug abuse will happen when these records are used in tandem with medical evaluations to determine if a person really needs these pain pills.

Oxycodone is the most abused drug, followed by hydrocodone, morphine, methadone, and propoxyphene, according to the Florida Office of Drug Control. Pharmacies can be just as liable for not checking fraudulent prescriptions, ignoring the warning signs of addicts, and ordering excessive quantities of pain pills. Florida law enforcement says that people should be turned away by a pharmacy when they do not have the proper physician paperwork or if the prescription looks forged. Requesting the pill by nickname at the refill counter is also a dead giveaway.

“As quick as some of the fly by night clinics are shuttered, new schemes to keep the pain pill profits going up start to happen at weight loss centers and health clinics unfortunately,” said Joyce. “If the doctor, clinician, or pharmacy had not been careless or negligent and only focused on profits, someone’s life could have been turned around. Those who abuse the system and cause someone harm can face penalties, big lawsuits, and jail time.”

To learn more about the Tampa personal injury lawyer or the Joyce & Reyes Law Firm, P.A. visit http://www.joyceandreyespa.com/ or call 1.888.771.1529.

Joyce and Reyes Law Firm, P.A.
307 S Hyde Park Ave,
Tampa, FL 33606
Call: 813.251.2007

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