Which Doctors Prescribe the Drugs to Which Prescription-Related Deaths Are Attributed?

Investigators queried the San Diego County Medical Examiner's database to identify all deaths that were attributed to prescription drugs in 2013, and for these deaths, used the jurisdiction's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to identify the specialties of the providers who had prescribed the drugs.

Of 254 deaths related to prescriptions, 186 had PDMP data in the 12 months prior to death and comprised the study population. Of all licensed providers in San Diego County, 4.5% wrote a prescription for a patient who had a subsequent prescription-related death. By specialty, 54% of these providers were primary care, 20% emergency or urgent care, 11% psychiatry, 8% surgery, 4% dentistry, and 3% pain management. However, among all prescri…