The LePage administration’s bill would require doctors to use a prescription monitoring program that’s now voluntary, and limit the supply of opiates for chronic pain to 15 days.
Joe Lawlor
Staff Writer
Joe Lawlor writes about health and human services for the Press Herald. A 24-year newspaper veteran, Lawlor has worked in Ohio, Michigan and Virginia before relocating to Maine in 2013 to join the Press Herald. He is still considered “from away” but since then, he has learned what a “dooryard” is, eaten “whoopie pies” drank Moxie and boiled some “lobstahs.” The stories he enjoys most are when he learns something and meeting inspiring people.
He lives in South Portland - aka “SoPo” - with his wife, Melanie, and two school-age children.
Posted inMaine, News
Falmouth psychiatrist put on probation after patient’s suicide
The mother of a patient who committed suicide by overdose says the doctor, who had lost his medical license in other states, over-prescribed drugs and got away with it.
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Posted inMaine, News
Operation Hope helping addicts, but treatment depends on the charity of out-of-state programs
Scarborough police have connected 109 addicts with treatment since Oct. 1, often by finding beds in states as far away as California
Posted inMaine, News
Maine reports first case of Zika virus infection
A Hancock County resident who traveled to a Zika-affected country is the first person in the state to test positive.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Susan Collins’ Senate committee on aging explores risks of opiate addiction
The special panel chaired by Collins focuses on high prescription rates for painkillers and federal survey questions that may encourage hospitals to dispense too many of them.
Posted inNews, Politics
Medicaid expansion supporters make sixth try to broaden Maine’s program
The LePage administration opposes the idea, but proponents are making another effort by tying expansion to fighting the state’s heroin problem and proposing small premiums for some.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Gov. LePage criticized for joke about Chinese investor before a crowd in Lewiston
Pretending to sneeze while pronouncing the investor’s name is seen as offensive by some in the Chinese-American community.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
State defends letter pushing food stamp recipients to put photos on EBT cards
But the DHHS policy is under scrutiny after complaints that it appears to say photos are mandatory.
Posted inMaine, News
Collins cites possible tie between hospital pain control surveys, overprescription of opioids
The Maine Republican leads a group of 26 senators questioning whether hospital patient surveys on pain control should be tied to federal funding.
Posted inMaine, News
Sen. Angus King urges CVS to make overdose antidote available over the counter
The drug store chain already offers naloxone without a prescription in 14 states, and Maine has a dire need, he says.