DRUG-addicted patients known for doctor shopping on the Central Coast have walked away with thousands of pills doled out in large and dangerous combinations.
The NSW Medical Tribunal has described the prescribing of their West-Gosford GP, Urmila Sriskanda, as "gross, dangerous, and reckless".
Dr Sriskanda was prescribing drugs like oxycodone and benzodiazepenes to known addicts in large quantities, higher frequencies, and for longer periods than appropriate.
At one point Dr Sriskanda was writing scripts for addictive drugs for at least 16 people who she knew, or ought to have known were drug dependent because they were all on the NSW Opioid Treatment program.
She was also giving multiple types of benzodiazepenes, sometimes concurrently, to at least 21 known drug addicts.
In one case, the doctor did make inquiries, and recorded in her medical notes, that a patient was a "prescription shopper" with more than six prescribers in three months.
Nonetheless, on the next occasion she prescribed the same patient multiple types of addictive drugs and continued to do so every two to three weeks for more than three years, up until January 2019.
In another case a patient who had been continuously treated for addictions to heroin, diazepenes and other drugs was given 1655 tablets over six months up to May 2018. That was despite receiving a warning letter from the NSW Medical Council in January 2018.
She had also been warned by a supervisor about taking on face-value patients who were drug-seeking, and about whom there were explicit concerns in their records. On other occasions, prescriptions were provided upon email request, or given to someone other than the patient they were being prescribed for.
The Health Care Complaints Commission also found that Dr Sriskanda breached patient confidentiality by telling a patient that the patient's husband was having an affair.
The doctor told the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit that some of her patients were too complicated for her, but admitted that she didn't always read patient notes. While she realised she was prescribing "big doses" the idea of possible drug diversion did not occur to her.
In a letter to the Commission she cited other reasons, including that she was too trusting, that she was manipulated, and that she was misguided in attempting to help. Dr Sriskanda said she was deeply ashamed of her conduct and was working on her assertiveness.
The case was brought against Dr Sriskanda by the Health Care Complaints Commission in the occupational division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal where a panel of four agreed to de-register her for two years until July 2023.
