Could prescription drugs kill you? And could the current system in place actually keep doctors from regulating these drugs? It turns out that this might be the case. Scientists found that one in three Medicare patients who fill prescriptions for narcotics actually get them from multiple doctors. Not only that, but these doctors weren't aware that their patients were already prescribed these drugs.
Narcotics, also called opioids, include painkillers like hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine, according to WATE.com. Over the past 20 years, prescriptions for these drugs have risen sharply. Not only that, but being prescribed drugs from multiple doctors could potentially pose a health risk.
The new study reviewed more than 1.2 million medical records of Medicare patients who received a prescription for an opioid. In the end, they found that nearly 35 percent received a prescription from more than one doctor. In addition, they found that a third of the group received prescriptions from four or more doctors, according to The Boston Globe.
"As physicians, we tell patients not to drive when they take opioids, but we also need to tell them that it can be dangerous to receive these medications from more than one provider," said Anupam Jena, one of the researchers, in an interview with The Almagest. "And we need to use tools like Massachusetts' new drug monitoring program to follow up and make sure that doesn't happen."
That's not all the researchers found, either. They also discovered that obtaining painkillers from more than one doctor significantly increased the risk of ending up in a hospital with respiratory depression, drowsiness and other complications.
The findings reveal how important it is to regulate the distribution of prescription drugs. By putting new monitoring programs in place, officials could potentially help curb the tide of drug abuse. In addition, it could help reduce the number of deaths from accidental overdose.
