ORLANDO, Fla.,None — County leaders and doctors from Florida Hospital and Orlando Health announced a new plan on Wednesday to cut off people addicted to pain pills, WFTV learned.
Doctors said addicts have been using the emergency room to feed their habit.
The announcement was made at the Orange County Administration building, where some doctors said the problem is so bad they're being threatened by the addicts.
One emergency room doctor said he's afraid to go to work because the drug addicts he encounters become violent.
Officials said the plan was created because emergency room doctors noticed people were coming into the emergency room, complaining of chronic pain or injuries that require pain medication for treatment.
Doctors said it's a form of doctor shopping. The addicts go to various hospital emergency rooms to feed their addiction, during off hours or on a Friday when it's more difficult to check with the patient's primary care physician.
All Orlando Health and Florida Hospitals have set up guidelines for doctors to consider before treating the patient, officials said.
The hospitals will start tapping into a regional health care database to keep track of the people trying to feed their habit through the emergency rooms, said officials.
"Have your doctors ever been threatened by people who they refuse to give the drugs to?" WFTV reporter Daralene Jones asked.
"Yes. At many different hospitals there have been threats to doctors, nursing staff, and we want to maintain the hospital as a safe place for people to come," said Josef Thundiyil of Orlando Health.
Doctors also said there is a task force set up to help gather data from around the state to determine how often doctors are encountering the violent patients.
Doctors told WFTV they want lawmakers to stiffen penalties for people who assault the doctors who treat them.
"Addiction is best treated and pain is best treated if there is a single person treating it," said Thundiyil.
However, doctors said they still need money to expand programs needed to properly treat the addicts.
Officials with the Center for Drug Free Living said their centers are at capacity and the state wants to cut nearly $1 million next year.
"We have to turn people away every day," said Dr. Stacy Seikel of the Center for Drug Free Living.
Both hospitals said they're not going to turn away every patient who walks in with chronic pain, just those suspected of using the emergency room to feed their pain pill addiction.