Drug Testing and Prescription Drugs in Family Court

How do we determine if a positive drug test is the result of a valid prescription for drugs or illicit use?  The Department of Transportation describes the role of the Medial Review officer as such:

A Medical Review Officer (MRO) is a person who is a licensed physician and who is responsible for receiving and reviewing laboratory results generated by a drug testing program and evaluating medical explanations for certain drug test results.

The MRO provides quality assurance review of the drug testing process for the specimens under their purview, determine if there is a legitimate medical explanation for laboratory confirmed positive, adulterated, substituted and invalid drug test results.

The role of the Medical Review Officer (MRO) is a key component to determining whether a positive result for a prescription drug is in fact due to a valid prescription or illicit use.  The MRO will call the donor and request all prescriptions. The MRO will then validate the prescription with the pharmacy. If it is a valid prescription and the MRO determines the prescribed drug is the cause of the positive result the MRO will change the result to negative and that is what will be reported.

It’s extremely important that the MRO being selected have the qualifications necessary to make these determinations.  That is why using a licensed DOT MRO ensures that those determinations are valid.

Have questions? Call our office now for answers at 847 258 3966.