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Business and Professions Code
Section 2241.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a physician and surgeon may prescribe or administer controlled substances to a person in the course of the physician and surgeon's treatment of that person for a diagnosed condition causing intractable pain.
(b) "Intractable pain," as used in this section, means a pain state in which the cause of the pain cannot be removed or otherwise treated and which in the generally accepted course of medical practice no relief or cure of the cause of the pain is possible or none has been found after reasonable efforts including, but not limited to, evaluation by the attending physician and surgeon and one or more physicians and surgeons specializing in the treatment of the area, system, or organ of the body perceived as the source of the pain.
(c) No physician and surgeon shall be subject to disciplinary action by the board for prescribing or administering controlled substances in the course of treatment of a person for intractable pain.
(d) This section shall not apply to those persons being treated by the physician and surgeon for chemical dependency because of their use of drugs or controlled substances.
(e) This section shall not authorize a physician and surgeon to prescribe or administer controlled substances to a person the physician and surgeon knows to be using drugs or substances for nontherapeutic purposes.
(f) This section shall not affect the power of the board to deny, revoke, or suspend the license of any physician and surgeon who does any of the following:
(1) Prescribes or administers a controlled substance or treatment that is nontherapeutic in nature or nontherapeutic in the manner the controlled substance or treatment is administered or prescribed or is for a nontherapeutic purpose in a nontherapeutic manner.
(2) Fails to keep complete and accurate records of purchases and disposals of substances listed in the California Controlled Substances Act, or of controlled substances scheduled in, or pursuant to, the federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. A physician and surgeon shall keep records of his or her purchases and disposals of these drugs, including the date of purchase, the date and records of the sale or disposal of the drugs by the physician and surgeon, the name and address of the person receiving the drugs, and the reason for the disposal of or the dispensing of the drugs to the person and shall otherwise comply with all state recordkeeping requirements for controlled substances.
(3) Writes false or fictitious prescriptions for controlled substances listed in the California Controlled Substances Act or scheduled in the federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.
(4) Prescribes, administers, or dispenses in a manner not consistent with public health and welfare controlled substances listed in the California Controlled Substance Act or scheduled in the federal Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.
(5) Prescribes, administers, or dispenses in violation of either Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11150) or Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11210) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code or this chapter.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the governing body of a hospital from taking disciplinary actions against a physician and surgeon, as authorized pursuant to Sections 809.05, 809.4, and 809.5.
(Added by Stats.1990, c.1588 (S.B.1802), § 1.)