Will – while I appreciate the severity of this issue, as a practicing oncologist this bill would place significant constraints in terms of managing my patients. oncology patients frequently require long term narcotics, and I usually write several of these prescriptions daily. To stop and have to review each patient, every time, would be onerous and disruptive to the care of my patients and might “underdose” cancer patients. much of oncology training is about managing pain and limiting pain and suffering at the end of life. This bill could potentially hamper this goal for palliative care. i think before enacting a global recommendation, exceptions must be made for specific diagnosis such as cancer.
thanks
Thanks for weighing in. Clearly many people share the same concerns.
DPH will follow the recommendations of a clinical panel in developing regulations to implement this bill. Hopefully those recommendations will reflect clinical common sense about how and when the system needs to be checked and will not hamper appropriate palliative care.