By Maria Herrera The Sun Sentinel March 1, 2010 Delray Beach City Commissioner Adam Frankel continues to champion the cause of cracking down on “pill mills.” He recently asked City Attorney Brian Shutt to look into requiring any doctor or clinics filling a controlled-substance prescription to submit the patient’s fingerprint. A database would help identify whether a [...]

By Scott Hiaasen Miami Herald Staff Writer State health officials have suspended a doctor at a Fort Lauderdale pain clinic for dispensing tens of thousands of dangerous painkillers to patients — including more than a dozen patients from Kentucky — without medical justification. The state Department of Health issued the emergency suspension order for Dr. [...]

By Jennifer Sorentrue and Michael LaForgia Peach Post Staff Writers Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County commissioners this morning agreed to initiate a year-long moratorium to prevent pain-management clinics from opening in unincorporated sections of the county. Members of the county’s law enforcement and medical communities hailed the move — the first [...]

// By The Palm Beach Post ]]> // Monday, Dec. 14, 2009]]> Palm Beach County commissioners should prevent new pain clinics from opening in unincorporated areas, and cities and towns should do the same within their borders. The move is necessary to cut the flow of addictive painkillers sent illegally from South Florida to other parts of [...]

Scott Hiaasen The Miami Herald December 30, 2009 A Fort Lauderdale doctor who advertises as both a pain and addiction specialist is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of a former patient who allegedly became addicted to drugs while under the doctor’s care before committing suicide. The lawsuit, filed Dec. 22 in Broward [...]

Police see MRI trucks scanning at nightclubs, parking lots at all hours

By JULIUS WHIGHAM II Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, October 09, 2009 DELRAY BEACH — A Delray Beach doctor has been suspended for inappropriately prescribing medications, state officials said today. An emergency suspension order was issued for Dr. Ricardo Sabates. The order, issued by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros, alleges that Dr. [...]

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP), have been implemented in 26 states and nine more are in the development phase according to the U.S. Department of Justice. PDMPs create statewide databases to monitor prescriptions and to identify patients who may “doctor shop” or forge prescriptions to illegally obtain large amounts of drugs. They can also identify [...]

Doctor Shopping Bill Passes Out of Committee, But What’s Next? Posted By Craig Robinson Many have deemed this week “labor week” in the Iowa House of Representatives. Last night some 40 Iowans spoke out at a public forum. Following the forum, the bill quickly passed out of the House Labor Committee. The bill is expected [...]