A Taree doctor who prescribed fentanyl and other potent painkillers to drug seekers is the fourth regional doctor, and the third from the same town, to be punished by a tribunal this year for improperly dispensing the strong drugs. Dr Long Phan Nguyen was suspended from practising by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal for inappropriately prescribing the addictive medication to 12 patients between 2010 and 2015. In a case brought about by the Health Care Complaints Commission, Dr Nguyen was found to ha ve simultanously prescribed two benzodiazepines to a drug addict, despite his previous notes revealing the man sold drugs. In another incident Dr Nguyen prescribed fentanyl to a known doctor shopper eight days after previously refusing her.
