WASHINGTON — Heightened efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration to crack down on narcotics abuse have led to some hospice and elderly patients being denied pain medication, according to two lawmakers and a coalition of pharmacists and geriatric experts.
Tougher enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, which restricts the distribution of pain medicines such as morphine and Percocet, is leading to delays in pain relief for those patients and seniors in long-term- care facilities, wrote Sens. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
The lawmakers wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder this month urging that the White House issue new directives to the DEA and to support a possible legislative fix for the problem, which has plagued nursing-home administrators and geriatric experts for years.
The DEA has sought to prevent drug theft and abuse by nursing-home staffers, requiring signatures from doctors and an extra layer of approvals when narcotics are ordered. Most nursing homes do not have pharmacies and doctors on site, adding to delays for ill patients.
