Lisa was still recovering from a nasty fall down a flight of stairs when she walked into Eugene Decker's family practice office in December 2012.
X-rays showed the 34-year-old Phillipsburg woman had suffered fractures to her neck and back. Decker said the injuries were so significant, they could have left Lisa paralyzed.
So when she said she was looking for medication to help ease the pain, Decker had no reason to doubt her.
"She had all the right reasons to have pain meds and I prescribed pain meds to her," Decker said. "I didn't know she was going to other doctors."
In fact, Decker was one of more than two dozen doctors Lisa had visited in Pennsylvania and New Jersey between October and December 2012. According to documents obtained by her family members, those visits translated into 660 tablets of various prescription pills.
All in a period of 54 days.
With prescription drug abuse on the rise, many doctors now face a delicate balancing act of trying to decipher between patients in legitimate need of medication and those, like Lisa, who may have an addiction.
Many advocates, including Decker, say the answer may lie in making improvements to states' prescription monitoring programs while encouraging, or mandating, increased participation by health care professionals.
Unfortunately, for some, it is already too late.
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