Text Size
Smaller
Bigger
Doctor Shopping

Attorney General Calls Corey Haim ‘Poster Child for Drug Addiction’

posted 01:30 AM EST, Wed April 07, 2010

California Attorney General Gerry Brown made the remarks at a press conference where he talked about doctor shopping and about how, in the months leading up to his death, Haim used multiple doctors to procure 550 prescription pills.

Between Feb 2 and March 5th, Corey Haim traveled to 7 different doctors to procure prescriptions to narcotic and sedative drugs. His efforts yielded him 550 pills in total, including 195 Valium pills, 194 Soma pills, 148 Vicodin pills and 15 Xanax. According to the LA County Coroner, Haim travelled to 20 doctors over the last year to get prescription medications.

The coroner has not yet released a cause of death for the 38 year Haim, who was suffering from a flu like illness at the time of his death, and who has battled drug addiction for decades.

California Attorney General, Gerry Brown talked to reporters about the situation, and called Haim a ‘poster child’ for prescription drug addiction and doctor shopping behaviors. He says that Haim would visit clinics and emergency rooms complaining of specific symptoms, such as shoulder pain, to get fast prescriptions to the drugs he wanted.

Brown reported that the doctors who prescribed Haim the medications said they felt ‘duped’ by the actor’s lies and said that they didn’t know that multiple doctors were involved in his care and prescribing.

Haim used an alias to get medications at least once in the last couple of months, and had used a stolen prescription pad to fill a scrip for OxyContin at least once.

Brown urged doctors to make use of California’s prescription drug monitoring database. This database can provide doctors with a patient’s medication history, which can show doctor shopping behaviors. Doctors can choose to use this system at their discretion.

Subscribe Subscribe to this topic category
Story Highlights
  • Corey: Haim was doctor shopping in the months leading up to his death
Creative Commons License
Copyright Notice
We welcome republishing of our content on condition that you credit Choose Help and the respective authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Helpful Information
How to End an Addiction-Damaged Relationship
Guidelines for Ending an Addiction-Destroyed Relationship © Merlijen Hoek
What do you do when the person you love gets consumed by a disease (addiction) that's beyond your control? How do we know when it's time to leave and how do you manage to adjust to life without your actively addicted partner? Read Article
Guidelines for Living with an Addicted Partner
Loving an Addicted Partner - Enforce Boundaries but Don't Manipulate © Luke Hayfield Photography
Learn how setting personal boundaries and demanding accountability works better than trying to manipulate behavioral change. Read Article
Living With An Addict April 15, 2018 (2)

This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.

Find Treatment
Browse by region »
Scan to call us
using your phone camera app