Walgreens pharmacists now turning away some customers who need pain meds
http://www.wthr.com/story/22916123/2013/07/23/walgreens-pharmacists-now-turning-away-some-customers-who-need-pain-meds
IS “AMERICA’S PHARMACY” “torturing” pts ?
If you hit someone with a hammer it hurts… I think that the police call this assault & battery… if you “take away” a chronic pain pt’s medication and they go into withdrawal and the pain level escalate.. it is apparently called “GOOD POLICY” by the DEA in trying to fight the war on drugs.. which they have been fighting for 40 + yrs… and can someone please explain to me the progress that they have made?
So if the police (DEA) intentionally INFLICTS PAIN on people in our society.. everyone either turns a blind eye or applauds their actions in fighting this war..
Only in the government .. can anyone fail miserably at doing their job and you get more people and money to keep trying.. after 40 yrs… we are continuing because ?
BTW.. it would seem that WTHR has TURNED OFF the comments on this website .. wonder why ?
Filed under: General Problems
I have to say that I agree with anonymous. When the purchases of Oxy 30 go from a few thousand to a few million, shouldn’t someone by asking WTF? The pharmacists at WAG are only complying with the agreement between WAG and the DEA. Give them a break. The pt should be mad at the MD if he/she does not reply in 24 hours. I had to call a doc 4 times to clarify a non-controlled rx and it took him ten days to get back to me. You are right…no one else is going to cover our back ends but us.
Can’t blame some of these pharmacists. With the attitude of some of these people who are quoted in the article… I can see why they’d be declined. “They’re trying to play doctor.” No, not true at all. They fear for their license and theyd rather not deal with it. “He basically called me an addict.” No, he didn’t do that at all. Hes trying to comply with the Walgreens policy to the best of his interpretation so that he doesn’t get fired or arrested. It has nothing to do with the patient.
Which brings me to another quote, “And I don’t believe for a second they were looking out for my best interest.” You’d be absolutely correct. We all knew WAG never cared about the patient. If there were any pharmacists that did care, its now been switched to caring about themselves more than the patient. And I commend that. In a business such as this, you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of the patient. You don’t want to wind up on the street.
Now, some of these guys might be taking this to extremes. Sounds like these hard-asses are quite possibly new, and are taking things a little further than someone whos been around a little longer. Doing everything “to the T.” Assuming they have access to their online state controlled reporting system (something Kansas USED to have, but its currently offline), it shouldn’t be days if the patient has a solid history. I can understand days to get a phone call back to verify that information from the doctor, but IF theres a [good] history, just let it go. Or let him have the script back. Theres no reason that should have happened either. But again, theres very little information on the situation in the article. Maybe these people are early a lot. Maybe every 15 days they receive a new 30 day supply for a different strength, and they are putting a stop to that until they get verification. We only have one side of the story.
And the last problem here… is that when a patient (such as those who post in the article) refers to walgreens, they show no difference between the pharmacist and the company. To them its all the same. But its VERY different. “They are just covering their mistakes.” Well, no, this is a completely different pharmacist, who had nothing to do with the fines Walgreens had to pay. Frustrating.
[…] For the second time in a week, WAGS in Indianapolis has been in the news … https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=4058 […]
It is just a matter of time before patients file lawsuits against Walgreens, and only a matter of time before Congress is inundated with phone calls from patients in pain. This is a national disgrace! It is easy to understand the position of these Walgreen pharmacists. They are having so much to do and so much time involved and so much verification of prescriptions that they are choosing to simply no longer fill narcotics. So, the DEA strategy seems to be to cause so many problems for pharmacists that the pharmacists simply choose to tell the patient to find another pharmacy. And, yes, I quite agree that what is happening is totally inhumane. What will be the next step? Since these people cannot get pain meds, will the government decide that euthanasia is the best solution?
a video clip exists on the interwebs of President Obama suggesting that, instead of having surgery to correct a medical problem, the patient should just take a pain pill. Hmm, I wonder if the DEA is aware of the President’s idea. Euthanasia will be next.