Painkiller Contracts

You know it's seroius when you have to sign a contract. These days, so many people are getting hooked on prescription painkillers that doctors are making patients sign a painkiller contract. The contract stipulates that the patient will only take the medication as prescribed, not give it to anyone else and not shop around for other pills. There has been a lot of talk about electronic health records. It may help streamline and make doctors and hospitals keep track of things better, but I'm told they won't help prescription medication abuse. Here's the deal: The only way doctors can track a patients prescription history, is if every doctor or hospital or clinic or practice is on the same system. That way a doctor could log on and say, Mr. Carpenter, it says here you got a prescription filled two days ago at so-and-so pharmacy. Whoops, I'm busted. But guess what? Most hosptials, clinics and practices are on different systems. Which brings us back to the painkiller contract. It's a nice try and may help, but it's also not legally binding, which makes it worth the paper it's printed on.