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AirTalk

Doctor found guilty of murder for overprescribing opioids raises new questions about abuse

Roxana Selagea, a Publix Supermarket pharmacy manager, counts out the correct number of antibiotic pills to fill a prescription  August 7, 2007 in Miami, Florida.
Roxana Selagea, a Publix Supermarket pharmacy manager, counts out the correct number of antibiotic pills to fill a prescription August 7, 2007 in Miami, Florida.
(
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
)
Listen 10:56
Doctor found guilty of murder for overprescribing opioids raises new questions about abuse

In a first-of-its-kind verdict, a Rowland Heights doctor was convicted last Friday on three counts of second-degree murder.

The three deaths were patients of the doctor who overdosed from prescriptions she'd written. Dr. Lisa Tseng was accused of indiscriminately handing out prescriptions for dangerous drugs. But it's hard to catch doctors running prescription mills.

The state prescription monitoring program CURES is designed to ID questionable prescriptions. How well is it working?

Guests:

Dr. Joel Hyatt, MD, FAAFP, Co-Chair of the LA County Prescriptions Drug Abuse Medical Task Force, which was created this year to standardize guidelines for their emergency departments to avoid over prescribing opioid pain medications; he’s also Emeritus Assistant Medical Director of Community Health Improvement at Kaiser Permanente, Southern California Region

Dr. Paul Christo, MD,associate professor, division of pain medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and host of Aches and Gains on Sirius XM