Why aren't doctors drug tested?

But we should go further. We believe hospitals should be required to perform random drug tests on all health care workers with access to drugs. The tests should be comprehensive enough to screen for fentanyl and other commonly abused drugs and must keep up with evolving drug abuse patterns.

This is hardly a radical suggestion. By federal law, many workers in transportation or other safety-sensitive areas are already subject to random drug tests. These include pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, flight attendants, train engineers, subway operators, ship captains and pipeline emergency response crews.

Another step is to require medical centers to call law enforcement agencies if they suspect a health care worker of stealing drugs. “These are federal crimes,” said John P. Kacavas, the United States attorney who prosecuted Mr. Kwiatkowski in New Hampshire. “Medical providers are ill equipped to investigate these cases.”