Pain Doc Blames WC Laws for Contributing to Opioid Crisis

A pain management physician in Oklahoma has placed the blame for the opioid crisis at least partly at the feet of the state's workers' compensation laws and insurers, which he said leave doctors with few options other than pain medications. “By law, once a patient reaches continued medical management, the treating physician can prescribe what's reasonable and necessary, but that doesn't include MRIs, X-rays, injections or physical therapy,” said Terrell Phillips, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist and president of the Oklahoma Pain Society. “That lea...