Pubdate: Wed, 25 Mar 2015 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2015 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Theresa Boyle Page: A2 REGULATOR SCRAPS CONTROVERSIAL METHADONE LIST Registry Was Criticized for Invading Privacy of Addicts The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is scrapping its controversial methadone registry, which keeps tabs on recovering addicts who take the drug. There is no empirical evidence that the 15-year-old registry ever fulfilled its main goal of preventing "double doctoring," Diane Doherty, incoming chair of the CPSO's methadone committee, conceded in the college's latest edition of the newsletter Methadone News. Double doctoring occurs when patients receive the synthetic narcotic from multiple doctors with the possible intent of selling it. Doherty also said the registry has impeded access to methadone. For example, some physicians would not commence methadone treatment on new patients until the college checked the registry to ensure those patients weren't being treated elsewhere. The news that the registry is being phased out this year is welcomed by Dr. Philip Berger, medical director of the Inner City Health Program, a long-time critic of the CPSO's methadone maintenance program. "It has been a quiet scandal for years. The only reason it has been quiet is that most people don't care about addicts," he said on Tuesday. Methadone is a narcotic used to reduce withdrawal symptoms of those trying to get off heroin, morphine and other painkillers. It works by replacing one opiate with another that does not produce a euphoric high and reduces drug cravings. Through the registry, the college collected names of those prescribed methadone, their city of residence, gender, date of birth, OHIP number, treating physician and episodes in treatment. Anonymized data from the registry was used in research. Berger has long complained that the registry invades the privacy of patients and discriminates against them by treating them differently than those prescribed other narcotics. "The establishment of the patient registry represented the longest and most serious instance of regulatory misconduct by the CPSO in its history," he charged, adding that patients were "coerced" to disclose personal health information as a condition of receiving treatment. Wade Hillier, who manages the program for the CPSO, said: "We have, over time, come to the conclusion that this is not working in the way that we would want it to." He noted that the province created a Narcotics Monitoring Program in 2012 to ensure appropriate prescribing, dispensing and use of narcotics and controlled drugs. Methadone can be tracked under that program, like other narcotics, he said. The college was unable to provide the cost of administering the register. It currently contains the names of just over 41,000 patients in active treatment. Hillier said those names would eventually be expunged. Julian Hotchkiss, 44, a methadone user and patient of Berger, said he has always felt uncomfortable having his name on the registry. "I don't want to be treated differently than any other patient. I don't want my name to be attached to something that has such a prejudicial cast in our society," he said. Berger filed complaints about the registry in 2008 with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Privacy Commission of Ontario. The human rights complaint resulted in an agreement between Berger and the college, the results of which are confidential. Privacy commissioner Brian Beamish, then assistant commissioner, found that the registry did not contravene the Personal Health Information Protection Act. Berger accused him of facilitating a "massive breach" of patient privacy. "(The commission) failed tens of thousands of patients on methadone and, forfeiting any notion of independence, took hook, line and sinker everything the CPSO said, in effect acting as an appendage of the CPSO," he claimed. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom