KASPER is now the law of the land in the state of Kentucky. According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (KCHFS) this law is intended to prevent abuse of prescription drugs by creating a database that has to be checked by any prescriber before they give patients any of the controlled drugs on the mandated list. Their intent was to keep reckless and perhaps even corrupt physicians from writing too many prescriptions for controlled drugs, however the end results may be quite unintended. In fact, the KCHFS makes it clear on their website that the KASPER law is not intended to prevent people who need medication from getting treatment. But that is exactly what has happened. After the very public arrest of several doctors in the state, and the subsequent media attention that garnered, doctors must have felt a cold finger of fear settle across their hearts.
Some stopped writing for any of the controlled medications, opting out of the program and presenting patients with statements that they do not treat pain for any reason. Others still require patients to sign contracts that prevent them from seeking pain treatment elsewhere. So a patient who gets pain medication in an ER will then be in violation of the contract with their oncologist (cancer doctor) and may be denied pain treatment from then on. The law has also had the effect of requiring patients be seen in person before refills of controlled medications can be refilled, but with short limits on the time a prescription of this sort is written for, the result are patients who have to see their doctors monthly for insomnia medication, or ADHD meds for their children.
The sad thing about the KASPER law has been the unnecessary suffering so many people have had to endure to protect addicts from themselves. Rather than focusing on identification and treatment of drug addiction, the state of Kentucky has chosen to focus on criminalizing certain medications and their prescribers. So a patient with a truly justifiable pain cannot get treated for fear they may be an addict, or that the doctor may be arrested for giving too many controlled prescriptions. It means that doctors focus on the use of anti-inflammatories, which are notoriously damaging to the body; increasing cardiovascular risk factors and taxing the liver and kidneys. Studies have shown a mild narcotic is much safer for the elderly, or those with kidney damage, than NSAIDS, yet again, the law has precluded the rights of patients to safe and appropriate care.
People are suffering; mothers with breast cancer, fathers with brain tumors, and children with broken limbs are all being denied adequate pain control. Despite the fact that the World Health Organization has identified adequate pain management as a fundamental human right. Despite the fact that people in actual pain are very unlikely to become addicted to pain medications, or that people who are addicts can just as easily access illegal drugs to meet their needs, or that pain can lead to suicide, disability, and enormous financial loss in society; despite all these things lawmakers have chosen to take the step to make the new law of the land based on not one bit of research based evidence. They have denied that addiction is a disease and needs treatment, and have chosen instead to harm the innocent rather than help the addicted.
Remember this the next time you are in the emergency room and in agony, that they have to obtain your prescription history from KASPER before giving you pain medications. Remember this the next time your dying parent begs for relief, but the doctor doesn't do that in their office. Remember that when a person addicted to prescription medications dies from heroin overdose. Remember, and let the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services know how this new law has harmed you and your loved ones.
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