Prescriptions Halted Due To Hacker

RICHMOND, Va. - State officials say people with excruciating pain are unable to receive powerful painkilling drugs they need because of the response to a hacker's attack on the state prescription drug database.

Two Virginia legislative panels took aim Monday on the state's troubled computer superagency and its $2 billion, 10-year contract with Northrop Grumman Corporation.

The hacker accessed about 35 million computerized prescription records in late April.

A House panel learned that powerful drugs such as Oxycontin, Valium, Vicodin and Ritalin are being withheld because pharmacists can't check with the prescription drug database that still allows limited access.

One delegate, Bob Purkey, asked whether the breach was sufficient to cancel or renegotiate the Northrop Grumman contract.