Opioid Prescribing Case is Headed to the Supreme Court.
Opioid Prescribing Case is Headed to the Supreme Court.
Next month, the Supreme Court will hear a case in which two doctors were convicted of unlawfully dispensing opioids. The case is causing the advocates of pain patients and some health policy experts to be afraid. They fear that such a ruling could enable the government to aggressively prosecute prescribers, and that such a decision could discourage doctors from providing opioids even when they are warranted. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on March 1. In a 1975 decision, the court ruled that doctors may be convicted under the controlled substances act if they do not engage in their usual professional practice. The courts have continued to give different meanings to that phrase. Some people have found that the government needs to prove that the prescriber intentionally or knowingly violated best practices. Other people have found that doctors have been guilty of prescribing medication in ways that were not in accordance with best practices.
Source: Fight over opioid prescribing — and when it turns criminal — heads to Supreme Court
