Tina Reed of South Florida is pursuing legal action against two physicians who she says committed prescription malpractice after they improperly prescribed muscle relaxers and pain killers to her 23 year old son.
Reed claims she came home one day to find her son snorting crushed pain pills, to which he had become dangerously addicted. He survived, but the situation could easily have turned dire. The amount of medication prescribed to Reed’s son, Jonathan Dicandia, was potentially lethal amounts that could have killed him.
According to claims, Dr. Enock Joseph prescribed Xanax for Dicandia to treat anxiety and excessive amounts of the pain killer Roxycodone – up to 270 pills in one prescription. The doctor didn’t bother to test Dicandia to verify his claims that he was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
A second physician, Dr. Lowell Adkins, is also accused of medical negligence after it was discovered that he was prescribing an excessive amount of 180 pain pills for Dicandia each month. Reed claims she confronted the physician with evidence that her son was abusing the drug but the doctor ignored her pleas to stop and continued to prescribe it anyway.
Although Dicandia admits to exaggerating his pain to obtain the drugs, it was ultimately the doctors’ responsibility to ensure that they were only prescribing what was necessary by properly testing their patient. Instead, they both turned a blind eye and now they must pay the price.
The state medical board is currently in negotiations with both doctors to determine a settlement amount.
Prescription malpractice comes in many forms. In this case, it was blatant negligence on the part of the two doctors. And although the patient in this case escaped his addiction and is now living a normal, healthy life, it could just as easily ended with a deadly overdose.
If you know someone who is battling an addiction that is being aided by a doctor who you feel is committing prescription malpractice it’s important to come forward. The first step is to talk to a medical attorney.
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