Pubdate: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 Source: Sun Herald (MS) Copyright: 2004, The Sun Herald Contact: http://www.sunherald.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/432 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) DOCTORS SPEAK OUT AGAINST OPTOMETRISTS PRESCRIBING NARCOTICS JACKSON (AP)- Members of the medical community are urging the state Senate to reject a bill that would allow optometrists to prescribe narcotic drugs and perform surgical procedures on eyes. Dr. Randy Easterling, spokesman for the Mississippi State Medical Association, said the bill's passage would create a health care threat. "Drug-seeking patients are very clever and convincing in their attempts to obtain drugs. The first place that these desperate people will go are to the innocent prescriber that knows very little about these medications," Easterling said Wednesday during a news conference at the Capitol. The House-passed bill has been referred to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee, and it's unknown when the committee will consider it. Supporters said the bill would help provide rural residents with access to eye care. Ophthalmologists oppose the bill, saying optometrists lack the necessary medical background. Optometrists are not medical doctors. Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson, said ophthalmologists shouldn't be fighting optometrists since both provide needed health care services. "As long as these people have the adequate training to dispense those drugs, the bottom line is that the citizens get a better quality of care," said Harden, who supports the bill. Easterling said there's no evidence that ophthalmology care is being denied in some communities. "This has been painted in some venues as ophthalmologist vs. optometrists, and it's not," he said. Under the House bill, optometrists could prescribe Schedule III, IV and V narcotics. Schedule III narcotics include hydrocodone and Lortab, both addictive street drugs, doctors say. Forty-nine states allow optometrists to prescribe pain killers and other narcotics. In Mississippi, optometrists can only use external medicine on their patients. Dewey Handy, an optometrist in Jackson, said he and his colleagues need the authority to prescribe oral medications. "The topicals, they only go so far. If they come to me and I'm not able to treat them then I have to send them out to another doctor," Handy said. Lawmakers said there are about 200 optometrists in the state, and 130 ophthalmologists. The bill is House 279. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom