The email from below was a follow up to a email that was sent to me via National Pain Report
This poor gentleman travels for a living.. IMO.. he is being batted back and forth like a tennis match.. the pharmacist near his home won’t fill a Rx a couple of days early so that he had his needed medication while working on the road.. and the pharmacist while on the road won’t fill his necessary medication because he does not live locally …
When this issue was published on NPR.. it got 87 comments.. mostly about that “corresponding responsibility” crap.. and tens of thousands of page views…
When I was very young, my Dad use to try to sucker me into a bet.. “heads I win.. tails you lose “..
This time.. this fellow lost a night’s sleep and a day’s work/pay over this BS.. in a court of law .. that is called financial damages..
Okay.. you who are on the firing line every day.. since I have been retired for a year.. I am out of touch – according to some.. what advice would you give this fellow ?? Some have previously stated that the pharmacist shouldn’t be sued for throwing the pt into elevated pain, withdrawal, denial of service , pt abuse… I will make sure that this fellow gets all of your “real life” guidance in how he should manage is medication and his chronic disease issues.
Hey Steve,
I hope you’re doing well. I thought I’d give you the latest edition of my situation…only so that you can see what’s going on from others suffering from chronic pain.
Last week, I was due for a refill of my norco 10/325. Once again, I had the valid, written prescription in hand to give to the pharmacist. But, similar to before, I was out of town for work. This time, though, I was in an adjacent state. Before I go any further, I thought I’d share with you that I was at day 29 (1 day after my last 28-day prescription), so there should have been absolutely no reason for the pharmacist not to fill my prescription. BUT, as you have probably predicted, I did have a problem. Even though I had a valid prescription (printed on the security paper to prevent fraud), the pharmacy would not fill it. Why? because I was out of state. So, I politely asked the pharmacist to call my pain mgmt doctor. I gave her the number and provided her with my nurse’s name. I had also called the doctor’s office to tell them I’d have to fill at a different pharmacy location since I was traveling for work.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The pharmacist was nice enough to call the doctor’s office. but the pharmacist would still not fill it for this reason… My doctor and my nurse were not working that day. So the pharmacist could not get an authorization. And apparently they have a protocol that other doctors in the practice cannot authorize the filling of the prescription for another doctor. It was insane. So I asked the pharmacist if I were in Alabama (my home state), could the prescription be filled. She said, maybe, if I was within the “region” that I normally fill my prescriptions.
I’d never heard of this in my life. I was working in Atlanta. In pain, with a legitimate/valid prescription in my hand…and I could not get it filled. I had two options…travel back to Alabama (missing work and adding another 4 hours of driving time to my day) and find a pharmacy or wait it out until the next day so that my doctor could authorize the filling of the prescription in another state.
I had no idea of this “rule”. I wanted to pass this along so that others in my condition are aware of it and do not get caught in a similar situation. I went without the prescription, did not sleep due to pain, and missed work the next day due to the situation.
Bottom line….LEGITIMATE PAIN SUFFERS DO NOT HAVE AN ADVOCATE. We truly are treated like second class citizens. It is unbelievable.
I’ll be interested to know if suicide rates for chronic pain sufferers are rising significantly due to the ridiculous obstacles we now face in order to find relief and live some semblance of a normal life.
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So unreal and unfair. Logically the prescription was valid, needed to be filled by chain that offers every where management but because of you working you are being punished. Anyone else can get their medication except for the ones with chronic painful diseases that we fight to deal with. I understand the frustration. Please pray our advocates have success otherwise all hope is lost for the compassion we need. Heaven forbid that we get 31 tablets. Shameful me as I am in the hospital wondering which would be cheaper and logical- the corner or the Drive, loss of days pay, possibility job and withdrawal. What a choice the government gives. Best wishes
Indiana.has cross state monitoring with several states now. If alabama was such I would.look at those. We can fill out of state scripts and if I coukd at least get some info about the doc either from the clinic an ERno another pharmacyid most likely fill it. And its stupidnhis home pharmaxy cant cut some.slack for 2 freakin extra days early fill because im sure.they very well know this gentleman travels.for his job…get real folks!!!