By Scott Detrow, KQED
A bureaucratic hearing in Sacramento took an emotional Monday morning, as parent after parent told state legislators how their children died from overdosing on prescription drugs.
The parents who testified during the Medical Board of California’s “sunset review” hearing all said the agency should do more to crack down on doctors who abuse their prescription-writing powers.
Tammy Smick, of Downey, says she’s outraged the doctors who gave prescriptions to her drug-addicted son Alex are still practicing medicine. “What has the California Medical Board done about the death of our son? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing, and that is just shameful,” she told the panel of senators and assembly members.
The hearing was part of a regular oversight process called a “sunset review.” Under this type of review legislators evaluate the effectiveness of a board to determine whether to change its powers, operational scope or mission. Prescription drug abuse has become a flashpoint in this process in part because of a 2012 Los Angeles Times investigation revealing that during a six-year window, 30 southern California patients died from prescription drug overdoses while their doctors were under board investigation.