New legislation from state Representative Kim LaSata is designed to make it easier for people suffering from a terminal illness to get the pain medications they need. With all kinds of new restrictions in place for opioids, LaSata’s measure would exempt hospice care providers from having to get a Michigan Automated Prescription System report on a patient before giving them a controlled substance. The law requiring doctors to get a MAPS report before filling out those prescriptions was passed last year, but LaSata says that rule was intended to prevent doctor shopping. LaSata says she believes it shouldn’t pertain to hospice providers giving end-of-life care. LaSata tells us the state shouldn’t interfere in the delicate task of providing comfort for the terminally ill. Her bill is now before a state House committee.
