An article on the WFTV website caught my eye today. Apparently, the Kentucky State Police pulled over a vehicle on Interstate 75 near Richmond, Kentucky, because the vehicle was weaving in and out of traffic. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement officers found a 42-year old woman dead in the backseat — apparently from a drug overdose.
Officers searched the car and found prescription pain medication from pain clinics in Florida.
Pain clinics have been in the news frequently in Central Florida over the past several months. Several local pain clinics — also called “pill mills” by some — have been shut down and several doctors and pain clinic owners arrested. In addition, several local governments — including Orange County and the City of Orlando — have taken steps to limit the further growth of pill mills, and to regulate how they do business.
As I have previously written, people are clearly coming to Florida from the Midwest and up and down the East coast in order to score prescription drugs. Until now, many Florida pain clinics have been able to operate as dispensaries where people can pay cash and get prescription drugs without going to a pharmacy to have a prescription filled. This system makes it virtually impossible for the patient/customers to be tracked.
If I was a family member of a person who had suffered a wrongful death as a result of a prescription drug overdose from a pain clinic in Florida, I think that I would have a lot of questions. First, why should doctors’ office be allowed to sell drugs without prescriptions? Prescriptions provide a paper trail behind the patient/user. Why doesn’t Florida state law require this? Second, I would wonder how so many out-of-state people are getting prescriptions filled in Florida. Doesn’t there seem like something fishy is going on when people are willing to drive hours and hours just to get a prescription filled? What are doctors doing right in other states, that we are not doing here?
As an Orlando prescription drug overdose lawyer, I know that families often have dozens of questions after experiencing the devastating loss of a loved one due to a prescription drug overdose. Please call me with your questions at 407-644-4444.
