Bill Would Expand Scope of Intractable Pain Law

By Greg Jones, Western Bureau ChiefCalifornia physicians would have immunity from disciplinary action for prescribing and dispensing dangerous drugs to treat chronic pain under a bill proposed by a Bay Area senator.The measure by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would expand the scope of the Intractable Pain Law in the Business and Professions Code. Some fraud investigators fear that the law, although well intentioned, is being exploited by some pain specialists as an excuse to profit by prescribing opioids.Senate Bill 410, which is sponsored by the California Society of Anesthesiologists, wo...