A state Senator has introduced a bill to create a “drug fatalities review panel.”
Sen. Howard Anderson (R-Turtle Lake) is the retired executive director of the North Dakota State Board of Pharmacy.” Anderson said a few years ago, a UND professor who does a number of autopsies, suggested a way to look at drug deaths.
"It's where a patient, for example, sees physicians in multiple different hospitals and multiple pharmacies, and then expires," Anderson said. "She (the UND professor) finds that out when she does the autopsy and gathers the information. Then we can address all those professionals who took care of that person, and try and fix the system so it doesn't happen to another patient."
Anderson said the Legislature passed authorizing legislation in the 2017 Session, but the Health Department didn’t have all it needed to appoint the review panel. He said this bill will correct that – and he hopes it will save lives.