A doctor increased the dosage of sleeping pills to a patient despite knowing she was "doctor shopping" to get her hands on more of the addictive medicine, a tribunal has found. or signup to continue reading Melbourne general practitioner Michael Kozminsky was suspended after he faced the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on August 21 accused of professional misconduct in relation to a patient he treated between July 17, 2017 and May 31, 2019. The Medical Board of Australia brought Dr Kozminsky, a Brighton-based GP, before the tribunal following numerous complaints from a female patient's husband.
Dr Kozminsky had been treating the woman for sleeping issues and she had been taking Zolpidem, a sedative used to treat insomnia which is more commonly known as Stilnox. An investigation found that Dr Kozminsky prescribed the sleeping pill to the woman despite knowing she was also seeking the drug from other doctors, after his office was alerted to it by the woman's husband. Dr Kozminsky admitted he increased the amount of Stilnox, but told the tribunal it was because he had contacted the other doctors the woman had been seeing and told them he should be the only one prescribing the drug.
He said he increased the dose because that was what the woman had been accustomed to, and an abrupt termination would have had serious withdrawal consequences and led to the end of their therapeutic relationship. If he had stopped prescribing the drug, she would have continued to find othe.