Doctor claims crackdown on opioids led to death
The Ontario crackdown on opioid prescribing has led to at least one death in Windsor, and likely others, according to the only doctor charged in an Ontario investigation into high opioid prescribing. Dr. Robert Cameron said Wednesday at least one of his patients died because he was obligated to stop prescribing narcotics last June. He said that patient quickly turned to street drugs and was dead within three weeks. The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, which charged Cameron with professional misconduct, has said it strongly disputes the doctor’s claim. Cameron, who agreed to give up his licence and not practise medicine anywhere again at a college disciplinary hearing in Toronto on Monday, feels he was unfairly singled out because he had two earlier, unrelated discipline hearings. “When you go on a witch hunt and you don’t find any witches, somebody still has to burn,” Cameron told the Star Wednesday. “The college board came right out and said part of the reason they were doing this is because Dr. Cameron has two previous penalties. But they had nothing to do with narcotics or prescriptions.”
In 2013, Cameron was suspended for three months for making “inappropriate remarks” to a nurse between 2008 and 2010.
In 2011, he was suspended for a month for not treating a twoyear-old boy suffering from an anaphylactic reaction in his clinic. Paramedics treated the boy, who recovered.
“I have been doctoring for 45 years,” he said. “Can’t I have two oopsies in 45 years?” Though the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care flagged 84 doctors who prescribed high doses of opioids, the college charged only Cameron. The college has completed investigations into 81 of the 84 doctors, some of whom had to take courses or “remediation” steps. Concerned about a worsening opioid crisis, the Health Ministry used data collected from its Narcotics Monitoring System from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2015. The Health Ministry data indicated that in 2015 Cameron had prescribed eight or more patients at least 650 oral morphine equivalents per day and issued one patient more than 20,000 oral morphine equivalents.
“They slant everything to put it in the worst possible light,” Cameron said about the statement of facts used in the hearing and posted on the college’s website. But Cameron said the 650 oral morphine equivalents adds up to three OxyContin pills and that the 20,000 oral morphine equivalents were to cover three months for a disabled patient of limited means who was going to visit family in Nova Scotia for three months. He said the college expert’s opinion was that Cameron had prescribed too much in some cases. But he said judging complex issues on paper alone can provide a different perspective than dealing with patients in need face to face. He also noted that though the college expert felt some of the opioid scripts could have had led to patient harm, there was no proof of any actual harm.
He said the expert disagreed with Cameron — who conducts random urine tests — about deciding to give one patient a second chance after he was caught abusing opioids. “(The patient’s) girlfriend suddenly died and he was very upset by it and made a mistake — and I gave him a second chance,” said Cameron, adding that his Sandwich Medical Walk-In Clinic is in a high-needs area.
Born in Sarnia, the 65-year-old doctor once worked for 14 years as a director of disability at an insurance company in London, before developing prostate cancer in 2007. After taking six months off, he moved to Windsor eight years ago, though he has only worked part time since then.
He will stop practising medicine April 30. “It’s going to be tight,” he said. “But my needs are few. I’ll manage.”
I have been doctoring for 45 years. Can’t I have two oopsies in 45 years?