Criminal Background Check - Is Your Dentist a Drug Dealer?

More than ever before, people are becoming addicted to painkillers. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), almost 7 million Americans abuse prescription painkillers each year. So who are these addicts getting their pills from? Besides stealing them from behind the pharmacy counters and obtaining the medication from online “pharmacies”, addicts are now turning to dentists to get their fix. And now the DEA is going after prescription writers who give addicts access to these medications without seeing them in person or who prescribe an excessive amount of pills to one person. Hiring managers at medical facilities need to perform complete employment background screening and a criminal background check before hiring anyone who has been caught writing prescriptions in this manner.

In a story featured on CNN this morning, a former addict named Kenny is being featured as an example of what not to do after oral surgery. He began increasing his pills each day until he was addicted shortly after he was supposed to stop taking the pills altogether. Long after his mouth healed, he went on to “destroy his life” by becoming addicted to codeine, OxyContin, and Vicodin. These drugs are powerful narcotics that are to be used in specific circumstances for coping with extreme pain. However, what happens to some people is that their bodies crave the medications after their very first pill.

So where can an addict turn to for an immediate fix? Some rob pharmacies and risk getting caught on the surveillance cameras and going to jail. The other option: fake pain to get a prescription from a doctor or dentist. Though it is more commonplace for addicts to turn to doctors in the ER or at an urgent care clinic for their fixes, calling a dentist instead has become a more popular choice as of late. According to a dentist interviewed for the CNN story, the occurrence has become so common that he now has devised several questions in order to find out if someone is really in pain of if they are just trying to score prescription narcotics.

The first question he asks them is “What time can you come in to see me tomorrow?” If they answer that the pain is too great to wait for the medication until tomorrow, he asks them how many pills they might need for the pain. An answer like “40 or 50” is a dead giveaway that their pain is not real. Many times, the caller hangs up once they are asked to make an appointment. This is how the dentist says the addicts work: they open up the Yellow Pages and try one dentist after another to see if they can get pain medication from them. The news story also reports that veterinarians are being targeted by addicts as well.

The lesson here is for medical professionals. The DEA is now following up by cracking down on dentists, doctors, and prescription writers for violations of this kind. It doesn’t end there. If you are a hiring manager at a medical facility, you need to be sure to hire an accurate and thorough criminal background check and employment background company. These services can safeguard you from hiring a medical professional who has a pattern of catering to addicts or being careless with their prescription privileges. Save yourself from a negligent hiring or medical malpractice lawsuit by doing your due diligence before bringing a new staff member on board.