This is a email that I received today
Judge DENIED the TRO
Cardinal stated that I am NOT a Medical Professional and I have no knowledge with which to base whether #720 Oxycodone 30mg for a patient dying from anal cancer was legitimate. In fact, they state that dose is NOT legitimate and the patient could suffer an overdose, and they have reported me to the Board of Pharmacy and the DEA for being reckless.
I recently wrote about a RPH that was “cut off” by Cardinal because it was deemed that the store ordered/sold to many Oxycodone https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=3945
The RPH is a franchisee of a franchise that is owned by Cardinal. Which is obligated by the franchisee contract to buy 95% of purchases from Cardinal… and Cardinal decided that this particular RPH was buying/selling too many oxycodone 30mg.
While 720 mg is undoubtedly a HIGH DOSE… those who deal with chronic pain pts.. it could be an acceptable daily dose for certain pts..BUT.. apparently CARDINAL has enough MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE to make a MEDICAL DECISION about what is appropriate for a particular pt.. Since the long acting med is only available as a brand name… and it would be more appropriate for the pt to get 3 X 80mg Oxycontin every 8 hrs.. I don’t know for sure.. but.. do you think that this pt’s insurance would pay for that much brand name Oxycontin.. How many THOUSANDS of DOLLARS a month would that cost?? .. and probably more money than a insurer would want to part with…
I am wondering how in the hell did CARDINAL get access to the PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION about this pt?
Did the DEA threaten the prescriber to violate HIPAA and provide the DEA with the pt’s personal health information.. to keep the prescriber out of hot water… Of course, this is a terminal cancer pt.. so they are probably physically and mentally drained and they know that it is unlikely that they will “put up a fight”.. beside they are DYING !
Why are the rest of the franchisees of this franchise not “circling the wagon” on Cardinal.. I know that .. if I had a indy store and Cardinal was my wholesaler… after that comment about RPH’s not being medical professionals.. I would be looking for a new supplier… and DUMPING CARDINAL like a hot potato
Here is another comment that was posted today :
Steve, I’m a Long Term Care pharmacy owner and every month I have to beg my wholesaler not to short my oxycodone order in the last week. It’s shameful that I sometimes have to hold back orders for hospice patients and post surgery patients in my rehab facilities. I’m told that I go over my quota and I need to prove how many Rx’s I fill per month. I do this almost every month and I’m still not sure what my quota is… I can’t believe we are all so traumatized by these rules when we simply are trying to do our job. The DEA is doing their job, but where were they when the OxyContin reps were in full force in the 90′s and doctors started to get softer with their C2 writing? I feel doctors need to be better educated so that we don’t carry the burden of becoming the narcotic cops.
This is very strange.. until recently.. I was temping at a national LTC pharmacy chain.. and I recently asked if they were having any problems about getting controls and was told that they only trouble they had was when there was a manufacturer shortage.. otherwise .. they were getting what they were ordering.
There were a couple of lawsuit in CA in the early 90’s against a couple of prescribers that declined/refused to provide pain management for dying cancer pts and when the relatives sued.. both prescribers were CONVICTED of SENIOR ABUSE… to the tune of ONE MILLION DOLLARS EACH !
So .. using that as a guide line… the DEA & Cardinal could possibly be GUILTY of SENIOR ABUSE … IMO.. this is just another Fed agency that needs to be rained in by Congress.. just like the NSA, IRS, DOJ and untold others that have expanded/exceeded their original charge…and legal authority…
Filed under: General Problems
[…] Per Cardinal Wholesaler – RPH are not medical professionals […]
Cardinal is notorious for shorting C-IIs without telling you. I remember how peeved I was when I ordered more dilaudid 2mg/ml than normal because we knew from our rep that morphine was going on critical shortage/allocation. Their automated system flagged it without telling us, we got a letter with the rest of the csos order the next day (which was Friday) that it had to be reviewed by their pharmacist for appropriateness, and it took me going through about 8 people until they finally greed to ship it Saturday priority because they were stupid.
Their pharmacist, at least the one at our DC, was a total newb and idiot who you could tell had never worked in a hospital (or probably any pharmacy before).
There is no upper limit on pain control by the way. That’s paramount and taught so whoever reviewed that should have known better (at least it was taught at my COP).
People are dumb.
The 720 mg is over what period of time?????