Pubdate: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 Source: Redding Record Searchlight (CA) Copyright: Redding Record Searchlight - E.W. Scripps Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Forum: http://www.redding.com/disc2_frm.htm Author: Jim Schultz THEY HAD CONCERNS ABOUT PRESCRIPTIONS North state pharmacists said Tuesday that they often refused to fill some prescriptions written by Dr. Frank Fisher because they feared the dosages and quantities were excessive. Bob Harrel, pharmacist at Safeway Food & Drug in Anderson, said he began refusing to honor all Fisher’s prescriptions three years ago. “I thought his (controlled substances) prescriptions were inappropriate for the (walk-in practice) he had”, Harrel said. Although Harrel said he has refused before to fill prescriptions during his 32 years as a pharmacist, he had never before issued such a blanket prohibition against any one physician. Harrel said he wasn’t surprised by Fisher’s arrest last week at his Anderson clinic for allegedly over-prescribing drugs that may have led to the deaths of three people. “I felt it would come,” he said “I just didn’t know when.” Some of Fisher’s supporters believe he is being railroaded because he has recommended medicinal marijuana to some patients. But north state pharmacists interviewed Tuesday said Fisher caused them serious concerns. “It got to the point where it was ridiculous,” said an established Anderson pharmacist who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. He said Redding resident Fisher, 45, would sometimes prescribe as many as 1,000 tablets of a drug to patients when the average quantity was 24. “Give me a break,” he said “I have never before seen any (prescriptions) that were so flagrant.” So, he said, he closely inspected the need for such drugs when patients brought in prescriptions written by the doctor and refused to fill them if the illness did not warrant the requested dosages. “My license is too valuable” to jeopardize, he said. “We did turn a lot of people away.” The decision whether to fill the prescriptions was made on a case-by-case basis and through consultations with the patients and Fisher, he added. Frank Hatanaka, pharmacist at Rite Aid Pharmacies in Anderson, said he would also decide whether to fill Fisher’s prescriptions based on each request. Some to the quantity and strength of the pills were “a little bit high” and he would not provide them. Hatanaka said he had few problems with Fisher’s drug prescriptions up until a few years ago. Daryl Odegard, pharmacist at Owens Pharmacy next door to Fisher’s clinic, said “just about everybody” ran into the same problem when it came to the doctor’s prescriptions. “He was unique in that way,” he said. Still, he does not want to make any assumptions about Fisher’s innocence or guilt. “We try to stay clear of that,” he said, adding that he was surprised by the doctor’s recent arrest. Fisher, a 1981 Harvard Medical School graduate who was licensed to practice medicine in California in 1982, was arrested Thursday at his Westwood Walk-In Clinic. Also arrested were Stephen and Madeline Miller, owners of Shasta Pharmacy in Redding. The trio is being charged with three counts murder each and 24 counts of Medi-Cal fraud and drug-related offenses. Investigators accuse Fisher and the Millers of unnecessarily prescribing and furnishing drugs to make money off Medi-Cal. Authorities allege prescriptions written by Fisher and dispensed by the Millers resulted in the 1998 deaths of Tamara Stevens, 38 of Anderson, Rebecca Mae Williams, 34, of Cottonwood and Bruce Johanssen Jr., 19, of Redding. The state’s two-year investigation was partially triggered by reports of increases in overdoses at Redding-area emergency rooms and tips from pharmacies and patients about the volume of oxycodone, a highly additive narcotic, and other controlled drugs prescribed by Fisher. Mike Arnold, executive director of the Shasta-Trinity County Medical Society, said Tuesday that about 90 of the society’s 200 physicians met Monday with state and federal representatives at Mercy Medical Center in Redding to discuss how best to cope with treating Fisher’s many patients, some of whom have become addicted to the drugs he prescribed. “We’re asking them to help” with the heavy workload, he said. Although several doctors agreed to see some of Fisher’s patients, many voiced apprehension because they are not trained or allowed to prescribe treatments for detoxification under existing laws, Arnold said. Also, he said some don’t want to expose themselves to possible liability or be further burdened by strict government record-keeping requirements. Still, the society and its members want to work with government and law enforcement agencies to try to adequately treat the patients and resolve what he termed a community crisis, Arnold said. The society, which has established a hot line to try to find doctors for Fisher’s patients, has been inundated with calls, he said. It was originally believed that between 3000 and 5000 patients would need assistance, but medical officials now say that number may be higher. “We have had calls from as far away as Sacramento,” Arnold said. The number is 247-7784. Dr. Ann Murphy, medical director of the Shasta Community Health Center in Redding, said Tuesday that Monday’s meeting did not go as well as she had hoped. “We did not get a whole-hearted sense of support from the different agencies,” she said. Those agencies represented during the meeting were the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the State Board of Pharmacy and the state attorney general’s office, she said. Murphy said a relaxation some state and federal laws is needed so doctors can help Fisher’s patients kick their drug habits. “They want assurances that they won’t be prosecuted if they diagnose and treat patients for their drug dependence,” she said. But, she said, she and the doctors were not encouraged by the responses they received from the agency representatives. “There were a lot of mixed messages,” she said. “It could have been more encouraging. But we’ll have to take a big breath, evaluate each patient, and then do the right thing by them.” Ironically, Fisher worked for the Shasta Community Health Center in the early 1990’s, but Murphy said he only worked there a few months before leaving. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck