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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
“Pain Management vs. Pill Mills” Forum & Discussion, Apr. 12
Michael Jackson, Corey Haim, Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith all died from prescription drug overdose. Seven Floridians die each day from prescription drug overdose. “Nationwide the problem is out of control. In South Florida, it has become an epidemic of illegal drug diversion that is feeding the country’s demand for prescription opiates and other addictive narcotics” says Raymond G. Ferrero III, J.D., partner with Addiction Recovery Legal Services and the executive director of Health Affairs for NSU’s Health Professions Division.
NSU’s medical students, faculty and friends are looking to tackle these issues head on in a public panel forum and discussion on Monday, April 12, 6 – 8 p.m., in the HPD Steele Auditorium on NSU’s main campus.
Called “Pain Management vs. Pill Mills”, the panel will consist of experts from the medical and legal community, as well as treatment providers, legitimate pain management caregivers and former addicts, who are dedicated to fighting the problem. The panel will be moderated by WSVN-TV investigative reporter Carmel Cafiero, whose watchdog stories helped bring the issue of so called “Pill Mills” to the public eye.
Pill Mills are doctor’s offices, clinics, and/or health care facilities that routinely over prescribe and dispense large quantities of controlled substances, such as painkillers, to patients from within their facility. These are establishments that often operate without insurance, on a cash-only basis and run as high-volume businesses. Their patients, who are often “doctor shopping”, travel to Florida from states as far away as Tennessee, Kentucky and Maine by the busload to fill prescription after prescription from one Pill Mill to the next until they end up with a myriad of pills that they use themselves or sell for top dollar on the black market.