I won’t fill this.. I have a dozen of excuses !

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Pharmaciststeve

http://youtu.be/i44bH2HlvZ4

Filed under: General Problems

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36 Responses

  1. starwood500, on December 6, 2014 at 3:43 am said:

    I am one of the chronic pain patients that went to 6 pharmacies in one day with a legal prescription that was told that they did not have it. My pharmacy of 10 years refused to order and could not guarantee that it could ever be received. Honestly! After going back to doctor He called walgreens and drew map. Went to 7th pharmacy in 24 hours and the pharmacist said I don’t have this. When I said he did 15 minutes earlier he grabbed it and filled it. And these are the professional people I am suppose to trust and respect. I use to.

    Reply
    • Anonymous, on December 6, 2014 at 8:37 am said:

      starwood500
      The current pharmacists with the horrible attitudes are creating an environment of hate. The next generations of children will remember all the times when their parents, freinds, neighbors, and others being in horrible pain and even a few affected by suicides. The future generations will not respect this profession and not want to spend the necessary time, effort , and money to complete the required curiculum to become a pharmacist which everbody calls a crook and laughs. Where will we be then when there is a hugh shortage of pharmacy workers? I would not want to be a pharmacist even if I was offered millions of dollars. Is this what these pharmacists want? Do they want to be afraid to tell anyone what they do for a living for the comment, your one of those?

      Reply
  2. Dennis Johnson, on December 2, 2014 at 7:55 pm said:

    Gene, it would be nice if the independent pharmacies in Florida were more leanient in filling C2 prescriptions, but I have found it more difficult to use them for several reasons. First, many of them do not take Medicare or Medicaid and some do not take any insurance. Second, the ones I have attempted to use are afraid the DEA or local police will close them down since if they begin filling C2s all pain patients in their locale will go there and their ratio of pain meds to other meds will become a red flag to the DEA. Third, is simply money, the independent pharmacies do not have deep enough pockets to fight a protracted legal battle with the govenment agencies over their dispensing practices. This is especially true if the agencies freeze the assets of those pharmacies that they decide are violating their rules. If a solution can not be determined by voluntary means then it is only a matter of time before pharmacists will be forced to fill all C2 prescriptions after they are properly verified. This is already being brought into the judicial arena in such cases as judge Susan Graber is currently hearing in respect to the plan B issue. However, Graber is trying to make this case a potential decision about general rights of pharmacist to refuse to fill. There are also other pending suits and there will be no way to turn back once the courts have made their decisions. I would rather see voluntary compliance than forced compliance.

    Reply
  3. Gene, on December 2, 2014 at 4:02 pm said:

    Dennis. The problem with chains in today’s society is that they have become a health hazard not only for patients, but also for their employees. Back in the days(just a few years ago) when I worked for the chain they pushed prescription budgets. God forbid if the patient complained that I refused to fill their questionable prescription for controlled substances, I would be talking to my DM, and it would not be pretty. Now it seems the tables have turned to the opposite. Now they seem to threaten their employees with termination if they fill controlled substances(if all corporate checkpoint have not been met). Can you judge the pharmacist who has $150,000 in student loans or the ones in their 50s(meaning, non-hireable for trying not to lose a job? With a flood of new graduates, it is really hard to find a pharmacist job. But! If you go to your independent pharmacy, they would be more than willing to help you with all your needs. And this is why there is a major flaw with having only specialized pharmacies filling all controlled prescriptions. This system would ruin many independent pharmacies, who are already trying hard just to stay in business.

    Reply
  4. boilerrph87, on December 2, 2014 at 2:21 pm said:

    Dennis…However, if you as the pharmacist have a patient who has been filling for the same meds timely with no issues (excuses for early fills, lost scripts) you would agree over a period of time you would know why these medications are being prescribed so why suddenly cut off the patient after years of getting the same the prescription?? THATS THE ISSUE. Of all the millons of pain prescriptions written, only a small percentage are bad. Isn’t true in the practice of law, a lawyer would rather let 1 bad guy go free rather than wrongly convict 9 innocent people? (correct me if I’m wrong on that phrase) The war on drugs is a failure, IMO the DEA is out of control and grasping at straws to keep their jobs, You have to admit, those who have serious substance issues will always be around and no matter what restrictions are put in place, they will find a way to get what they want when they want it. Most of them have a mental illness and use to self medicate, but you already knew that.

    I don’t live in FL, I’m in IN. When I worked retail, I utilized the INSPECT as my first check especially for new patients. I managed to call the doctor if I had questions and document (and they would be filled in about the INSPECT report especially if there were other doctors listed) . The doctors in my state are not required to use INSPECT and even if they were, they probably still wouldn’t. I would refuse early fills and document the last fill date on the prescription as would many pharmacists I know in my area.

    Reply
  5. Gene, on December 2, 2014 at 1:48 am said:

    boilerph87 Good. You just joined the rest of clueless people here. And now the actual stories behind each of my refusals.
    1. When I called to verify the Oxy 80 prescription, the clown who wrote it yelled at me, stating that it is not my job do judge his decisions. My job was only to fill prescriptions that he wrote. Guess what happened within a year? When the feds came to his so called office, they did not did not find any medical equipment in it. He charged $60 and wrote prescription to whatever people asked him to. Needless to say, he lost his license.
    2. When I called the number left on my answering machine to verify Xanax 2mg, another clown(who knows who it was) stated that the “patient will only take the sticks.”
    3. The daughter who was dropping off prescriptions for her elderly dad and picking them up conveniently forgot to give her dad his Percocet prescriptions. She was his only caretaker. Would I want her to go to jail? Not really. I spoke to the gentleman in person and we decided that she would only be allowed to up his non-controlled prescription. He would pick up his pain meds himself.
    4. I knew each of my local ER physicians. They never prescribed Percocet by itself. Just never. Those guys really tried to take care of pain, and they always, ALWAYS prescribed Percs in conjunction with either antibiotics or in combination with Flexeril and Naprosin. Every time somebody stated that they don’t need other meds, just the Percs, you know my answer.

    boilerph87 Since you are such a seasoned pharmacist, when is it OK to fill a CII 2 weeks early?

    And just for you judging clueless people. I never refused to fill legitimate pain prescriptions. I take personal pride that I helped multiple people not to get addicted to pain medications, even when their doctors did not care. And I’m proud that when offered a few of my patients to transfer their prescriptions to a local private pharmacy(they were disabled and relied on somebody to give them a ride, and that pharmacy offered full service picking up and delivering prescriptions), all of them refused to do so. They stated that they would rather wait for the ride, but they love me taking care of them. Guess what? All of them were taking pain meds.
    You can now go back to your baseless accusations.

    Reply
    • Dennis Johnson, on December 2, 2014 at 12:57 pm said:

      gene,

      I see from your examples that a simple phone call in each case brought proper resolution for your questions about filling the prescriptions. In all of the cases you were not disciplined for your “corresponding responsibility” so apparently proper verification with the practitioners works in most cases at least for the pharmacist. Even in the case where the practitioner was later disciplined you were not indicted for any complicity. This is my point, why don’t pharmacists understand that if they properly verify every suspicious case with the practitioner and document the response they are fufilling their duty and most likely will not be disciplined for their “corresponding responsibility”. I have a close freind pharmacist that works for Walgreen’s and used to fill any resonable prescription for controlled substances. However, she now refuses to fill the vast majority of controlled medications because she cannot complete her corporate required dutied and maintain her fill ratio if she stops to call the physician and wait on hold for every suspicious controlled prescription. If all pharmacists were honest they would be telling the public this truth and asking for help in changing their corporate requirements. I am a proponent of change in the filling of controlled medications. I have posted several times that I think all controlled prescriptions should be filled at selected pharmacies which are appointed to handle these types of prescriptions within the local community. Then these “special” pharmacies would not be subject to the same fill ratios as regular retail pharmacies and the pharmacists employed there would be allocated the proper time to verify all of these type prescriptions. These “special” pharmacies would also be able to control doctor shopping and pharmacy shopping better since they would only be filling the local doctor’s prescriptions and there would only be a couple of “special” pharmacies in each local area. These “special” pharmacies would become familiar with every doctor in their area writing controlled prescriptions since none of the other pharmacies would fill controlled prescriptions. It would also allow these “special” pharmacies to provide enhanced security since there would only be a couple of these pharmacies in each area they could prevent pharmacy robberies with a minimum number of armed security guards. I think this is the proper answer for keeping controlled medications in the hands of the proper patients. Additionally, after a few prescriptions for each of the patients were filled at these “special” pharmacies the pharmacists would know which patients and doctors would need to be verified and most of the repetitive prescriptions would not need verification. I do not know why this has not been implemented. I did suggest this the the Florida DEA office and was told this would not be possible because the regular pharmacies would complain about the partiality shown the “special” pharmacies.

      Reply
  6. boilerph87, on December 1, 2014 at 4:44 pm said:

    Geez Gene…..So the ER doc is writing Percocet scripts for 20ct…big deal unless you know he wasnt working on the day it was written, then you have a problem, which case you should have called the cops for fraudulent scripts. OBVIOUSLY, the ER doc felt whatever the patient was being seen for necessitated pain relief with Percocet and seriously, now that HCPs are CII, I really don’t see and never did see much pain relief difference between the 2 except one could get refills and have it phoned in as opposed to the other, so why not go with the Percocet. SO why punish the patients???? He issued it well within the usual course of his professional practice

    Daughter drops off a Percocet QID for her mom??? And the problem is???? Can’t be the dose….every 6 hours…nothing out of the ordinary there…Get the daughters ID and fill the RX, unless you know for a definite fact the doctor is writing out of the scope of his practice….was it a dentist writing for a months supply…I’d certainly would question and probably refuse/report that one unless, he is doing many dental procedures and is writing one big script to keep from having to write several small ones. As for the daughter bringing it in, SInce I’m NOT working, I have been taking care of my own ageing parents, in laws and keeping my bipolar spouse med compliant by doing grocery and pharmacy drop offs and pick ups even for controlled substances (who btw take up to 7mg of xanax a day for his diagnosis among several other medications to maintain normalcy, so 2mg QID, I might ask, but doesn’t surprise me for a mental health diagnosis) and written by a GP/Internist/family practioner, they can if they are comfortable writing for psych, not everyone has access to a good psychiatrist, we are lucky.

    The OXY #480…That would entail a discussion, but I have seen much higher doses working a home hospice and part of the interdisciplinary team and many of those patients were NOT bedridden dying, but because of Oxy, they were very comfortable, very functional, you’d never know they were on that high a dose and they were able to have a good QUALITY of life in their final days. The nice thing about Oxy was there is no ceiling dose and it doesnt hang on like Methadone and Dilaudid and add up as you take it.

    I WISH I had your pharmacy issues. I happen to be a legacy RPh with a very clean license who looking for work, patching together temp jobs so my bipolar spouse can destress from having to work way too much overtime risking a bipolar break and a hospitalization we can’t afford. I also happen to support Steve and many of the pharmacists and doctors who support the chronic pain community and want to see them have as good a QUALITY of life as possible and as long as I know the criteria have been met for the script to be written, I will fill it…..That’s what I have always done, even on my temp jobs and have had nothing but positive reviews for it.

    And for the record, I have refused some, such as the veterinarian who wanted to write pain meds for a family member, a dentist who was writing many chronic pain meds for a paitient whose doctor cut her off (that went to the board as a complaint, but NOTHING was done, he’s still practicing no sanctions) and another dentist who wanted to write Estrogen for his wife. Now that’s out of their USUAL COURSE OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

    Reply
  7. Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 12:46 pm said:

    Dennis I will provide answers to each case I posted after I hear your opinion.

    Reply
  8. Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 12:13 pm said:

    Oh yeah, and how could I forget another one? Percocet 5# 100, !t qid. Brought in by the patient’s daughter.

    Reply
    • Anonymous, on December 18, 2014 at 4:34 am said:

      God Gene your spineless ignorance simply amazes me. I receive 120 10/325 Percocet every month from my pain specialist…where did you study and where do you (sorry…can’t help not laughing at you right now) practice. My pain specialist studied at Cornell, residency at Johns Hopkins and oh…yes, currently practices at Hopkins as the number 2 authority on chronic. You better thank God you don’t fill my scripts because I would contact the state pharmacy board on you so quickly it would make your pathetic pharmacy night school classes look like slow motion video.

      Reply
  9. Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 12:06 pm said:

    Dennis just to make your life easier, here are some examples of prescriptions I refused to fill. You tell me if I would have a corresponding responsibility, and I will tell you what actually happened afterwards.
    Rx: Oxycontin 80 # 480. Written by a pain clinic doctor for a person supposedly suffering from severe lupus. Rx brought in by a young lady in tears, who claimed to be a niece of a person. Every piece of required information was included in the prescription.
    Rx: Xanax 2mg #120. Called in by someone claiming to be a PCP for a person. The person provided all required information.
    Rx: Percocet 5/325 # 15-20. Multiple Rxs from different patients. Brought in from a local emergency room. All required information was included.

    Reply
    • rk, on December 1, 2014 at 12:18 pm said:

      And???wtf is wrong w u omg. I too HAVE CHRONIC PAIN AND WAS UNABLE TO DRIVE OR GET OUT OF BED AND HAVE HAD MY DAUGHTER BRING MY PRESCRIPTIONS BEFORE WHO R U TO JUDGE JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE YOUNG BRINGS IN A PRESCRIPTION THAT THERE IS SOMETHING ILLEGAL GOING ON OMG ?THIS IS INFURIATING AND DISGUSTING AND JUST PLAIN DISCRImination. What is wrong w the others????emergency room prescriptions r obviously LEGAL coming from a hospital wow. Sickening cant wait til these sick pos r sued.

      Reply
      • Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 12:44 pm said:

        RK Hello clown. You and your brother Steve with his clueless videos jump to conclusions before hearing the full story behind each case. Just FYI I know what chronic pain is. I have both knees damaged as a result of my 11-14 hour shifts without a single break. By the end of my shifts my right knee does not bend at all.

        Reply
        • Pharmaciststeve, on December 1, 2014 at 5:15 pm said:

          I hope your employer doesn’t read this study http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070517142536.htm
          In a study recently conducted at the university’s Multidisciplinary Pain Centre in Edmonton, Canada, two-thirds of participants with chronic pain showed significant disruption of attention and memory when tested.
          Everyone knows that there is nothing more dangerous than a very distracted Pharmacist.. in regards to making med errors. I can only imagine how fatigued you are at the end of a 11-14 hr shift.. and add to that escalating pain in both knees and one knee non-functional. Keeping focus on the task at hand under those circumstances has to be a monumental challenge

          Reply
        • Charles, on December 5, 2014 at 11:22 am said:

          gene yours is coming,

          Reply
    • Dennis Johnson, on December 2, 2014 at 4:52 am said:

      Gene,

      Since I have no medical or pharmacy training I can only post my opinions about your described situations and cannot possibly tell you if you have corresponding responsibility. I can give you my opinions from a legal prospective which I will provide. In each of your examples you stated that all of the required information was included. I assume you mean that all provisions of FS 1306 were properly included on the prescription. If so, the only remaining issue is whether the prescription is a legitimate prescription issued in the course of usual professional treatment. If the prescription is not written in the usual course of professional medical treatment it would not be considered a valid prescription and should not be filled. By definition, “corresponding responsibility” can be either similar or identical and the Florida statute is not clear in this regard. However, the Florida statute does state that the prescribing practitioner has the responsibility for the proper prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances. The pharmacist is not given the same responsibility for prescribing controlled medications meaning that the pharmacist’s corresponding responsibility was not intended to be identical. Since the education and training is very different for pharmacists and physicians the legislature could not have intended for both professionals to have identical responsibilities. Hence, the term “corresponding responsibility” in this instance would mean similar not identical and would only apply to the dispensing not prescribing. Since a pain management specialist or anesthesiologist are engaged in the everyday usual treatment of chronic pain patients I would think their usual professional treatment is the everyday prescribing of medications including narcotics, for these patients along with interventional techniques. Therefore, all the patients of a pain specialist may receive narcotics within the usual course of professional medical treatment. A pharmacist should recognize that this narcotic treatment is the usual course for a pain practitioner and acknowledge their prescriptions as legitimate. This should be instinctive unless the prescriptions are excessive in quantity or may cause contraindications. However, even in those extreme cases the pharmacist should discuss the situatuion with the practitioner since only the practitioner knows what quantity is excessive for a particular patient whom may be opioid tolerant. Gene, in your first case you stated the prescription was from a pain clinic doctor and contained the proper information. Every patient a pain clinic treats with controlled prescriptions is in the course of usual professional medical treatment. I would contact the practitioner and document the reasons for the excessive quantities, check patient prescription history, and fill fhe prescription if the quantity has not been changed by the patient (forgery). In the second case I would verify the prescription was legitimate, document the responses, check patient prescription history, and fill if everything checked out. The third case involving er doctors, I would verify the prescriptions with the prescribing physicians (possible stolen RX pad) and fill if properly obtained. In all three cases once you have determined that the prescriptions are legitimate both in content and course of professional medical treatment it is my opinion that you should have no corresponding responsibility because you have complied with the statutes. In summary, my problem is not with a pharmacist that takes my prescription and verifies it with my doctor, even if it creates a delay, and then fills it since my prescriptions are legitimate. Instead, I have a problem with pharmacists that will not fill my prescriptions just because of the type of medications. My quantities are not excessive so that would not be at issue since I have been on the same medications and the same quantities for 5 years and I am prescribed less than the amounts my medicare disability plan D allow without doctor overide. Still I am 63 years old and have been disabled on SSDI since 2003 and have never attempted an early refill or lost a prescription and pass every urine test. I still cannot fill my prescriptions at any local pharmacy so I send my prescriptions to mail order pharmacy every month. I also have a problem with the pharmacists that have posted signs stating that they do not fill any controlled medications how can that be legal under the Florida statutes?

      Reply
  10. Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 2:46 am said:

    Dennis Johnson you really need to get your facts together. “The law does not require a pharmacist to dispense a prescription of doubtful, questionable, or suspicious origin. To the contrary, the pharmacist who deliberately ignores a questionable prescription when there is reason to believe it was not issued for a legitimate medical purpose may be prosecuted along with the issuing practitioner, for knowingly and intentionally distributing controlled substances. ” This is taken from:”http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/manuals/pharm2/pharm_content.htm” You opinion on this matter does not matter. The case is closed.

    Reply
    • Dennis Johnson, on December 1, 2014 at 10:41 am said:

      Gene,
      You obviously have problems reading legal information and even though I do not currently practice law, I spent years in college and law school completing my juris doctor so I will attempt to help you. I agree with part of your assesment, but you are extracting information which references practitioners and attempting to apply it to pharmacists. I suggest you actually read the entire title 21 usc and pay particular attention to 21 usc 1306.04. As I have read the acual manual the practitioner has the responsibility for both prescribing and dispensing a prescription the pharmacist is only under the corresponding responsibility if he/she fills a puported non-prescription under 21 usc 829. I would think that any pharmacist would be on the lookout for any prescription that would be considered a non-prescription such as any violation of 21 usc 829 section 309 requirements for a written prescription and would refuse to fill such a prescription. However, if the prescription contains all of the required information under 21 usc 829 section 309, 1306.11, and 1306.04, it seems to me that it is then a legitimate prescription under the same section. Then the provision you mentioned “an order purported to be a prescription is used not in the usual course of professional treatment or in legitimate and authorized research is not a prescription within the meaning and intent of section 309 of the act (21 usc 829) and the person knowingly filling such a pupported prescription, as well as the person issuing it, shall be subject to the penalties provided for violations…”. It is my opinion that the only time a pharmacist can be accountable for corresponding responsibility with the practitioner is when they either fill a purported non-prescription which does not contain the required information or contains obvious fraudulent information or when a pharmacist fills a legitimately written prescription knowing that it is not in the usual course of professional treatment. In Florida all of these requirements are listed in FS 893.04 in which the term “valid prescription” is used. Under FS 893.04, titled “pharmacist and practitioner”
      all of the Florida requirements for a “valid prescription” are listed and they are the general contents of a legitimate prescription. Once these requirements are met, in my opinion, a pharmacist does not have any “corresponding responsibility” unless they can confirm the purported prescription is not within the usual course of professional treatment. A pain management specialist with the proper DEA certificates is given the ability to treat patients with chronic pain, therefore it is their usual business to provide professional treatment of these chronic pain conditions. Therefore, a pharmacist that refuses to fill a prescription written by a pain management specialist that contains all of the proper requirements of a valid prescription under the Florida statutes must be concluding that the practitioner is not prescribing “in the usual course of prefessional treatment” since all other requirements have been met. Since Florida law provides a pain specialist with the authority to treat with pain medications I believe that a pharmacist refusing to fill a pain prescription because they feel the practitioner is prescribing outside the “usual course of professional treatment” had better be able to prove those allegations or he/she may be violating Florida law and may be subject to civil litigation by the practitioner under Florida law. I think this issue will probably be resolved when medical practitioners begin to file lawsuits against pharmacists for slander and libel when the pharmacist refuses to fill their prescriptions claiming that the practitioner prescribing practices are “outside the usual course of professional treatment” when Florida law gives the practitioner that exact authority. Gene, the case is not closed as you have incorrectly stated it is far from over and before you make statements like get your facts together maybe you should follow your own advice.

      Reply
    • rk, on December 18, 2014 at 9:33 am said:

      This makes no sense becauese most of us,the REAL chronic pain patients a,have been getting the same rx filled for a while, and NEVER BEFORE have pharmacists been UNCOMFORTABLE,or saying”i cant fill this” or “we dont have this” after years in my case ,so explain that dumbass. It is called discriminating and being a b#:ch.

      Reply
  11. Lost Cause (@itasecreto2011), on November 29, 2014 at 7:52 pm said:

    I’m sorry but legally a RPh can refuse to fill a prescription just because. It’s their discretion and their license. So if they feel it’s not a legit doctor then they can refruse. So stop making them into the bad ppl. The ones who abuse the drugs and doctor hop and pharpharmacy hope it’s their fault. So stop blaming the Pharmacist!

    Reply
    • Pharmaciststeve, on November 29, 2014 at 8:05 pm said:

      If you are turning down a controlled Rx then you must presume that the pt doesn’t have a medical necessity for it. Which means that the pt is breaking the law.. why aren’t you calling the cops and turning them or the doctor in? Until RPH’s start doing their job.. filling legit Rxs and/or call the cops on “bad Rxs”.. When Pharmacists start becoming as aggressive against those pts with chronic conditions that are non compliant,, Abuser/Addicts have a mental health disease – check the ICD9 code.. and they are just as non-compliant as someone who doesn’t take their medication for other chronic diseases… both will sooner or later end in death or disability.
      I will continue to point out the PharmDieties that they think they are.

      Reply
      • Anonymous, on November 30, 2014 at 12:52 pm said:

        PS, again, you really should know better. For crying out loud, you are making these wild assumptions based on a small video clip, not knowing anything about the situation or background, and getting people riled up based on these stupid clips. Lately you are just coming off as obsessed and maniacal. You are not helping your “cause” by attacking pharmacists, which are an easy target, but the wrong one.

        Reply
        • rk, on November 30, 2014 at 2:38 pm said:

          R u stupid?this IS NOT BASED ON SMALL CLIPS it IS based on this same bs happening to ALL chronic pain patients for over 2 years and becoming worse and worse.

          Reply
          • Anonymous, on December 1, 2014 at 9:41 am said:

            I was not the one using letters instead of words to make sentences, so no, I am not stupid. Also, this post is based on this clip. NONE of these video clips PS has posted show the whole picture. Read the post you are commenting on. And you are %100 wrong in your statement that this is happening to ALL chronic pain patients….seriously, where do you get your facts? You need to educate yourself on the subject before you make “stupid” comments.

            Reply
            • rk, on December 1, 2014 at 10:42 am said:

              Yes this 2nd clip does show the whole thing. And yes its happening to more then half of all pain patients. Not just one here and there , do your research then you can say your ignorant comments.

              Reply
            • Charles, on December 5, 2014 at 11:13 am said:

              hay moron yes it is,why are you on this

              Reply
      • Dennis Johnson, on November 30, 2014 at 1:36 pm said:

        Steve,

        You are absolutly correct, at least as far as Florida goes. Under Florida law 465.015(3) it is a 1rst degree misdemeanor for a pharmacist not to report any attempt to obtain a controlled substance by prescription which the pharmacist refuses to fill because he/she believes it to be fraudulent. The pharmacist is required to report any such attempt to the chief sheriff or law enforcement agent before the close of the next business day. I have been repeatedly posting this on every site I can because it is simply being ignored by pharmacists and law enforcement. If the DEA and Pharmacy board was truely concerned about the problem they would be arresting and prosecuting every pharmacist that refused a controlled prescription and did not report the refusal. A pharmacist that believes a particular doctor is writing prescriptions which are not legitimate has the legal responsibility to report that doctor when presented with a controlled prescription written by that doctor. To you “Lost Cause” , I would suggest that you read the Florida law and the Federal Pharmacy manual before making a statement like you have posted. There is also the issue of corresponding responsibility of pharmacists. I have done quite a bit of legal research on this issue and have reached an opinion that the corresponding responsibility of a pharmacist requires them to fill any verified prescription that is written by a licensed medical professional for a legitimate medical purpose. I see no reason to believe that a pharmacist can refuse a properly written, verified, prescription for a legitimate medical purpose and written for a resonable quantity. If so this would be the same type of situation as surgeons refusing to operate on extremely ill patients because if the sugery failed it would be a negative mark on their record. Even though many surgeons feel they have the right to refuse any patient they feel may not recover almost all of the cases I have researched where a surgeon refused surgery for arbitrary reasons have resulted in large malpractice awards for the patient or patients family and many times disciplinary action by the appropriate medical board. Maybe medical malpractice lawsuits should be brought against pharmacists for the same reason. I also have a question that maybe one of the pharmacists reading this posting can answer,
        do hospital pharmacists also feel they have the right to refuse to fill a prescription order written for an inpatient when it is a controlled drug because the pharmacist does not feel comfortable filling it?

        Reply
      • Gene, on December 1, 2014 at 2:55 am said:

        Steve please brush up on pharmacy laws. “To be valid, a prescription for a controlled substance must be issued for a legitimate medical purpose by a practitioner acting in the usual course of professional practice.” Pay attention to the second part of the paragraph.

        Reply
    • That Guy, on November 29, 2014 at 10:26 pm said:

      To bad their isn’t a pill for your mental retardation ya know fuck it lets not give cancer patients or injured war vets Tylenol 3!

      Reply
    • Anonymous, on December 18, 2014 at 4:16 am said:

      Oh please,
      Wow…super impressed “lost cause” that you know pharmacy law 101…that is except that as a direct member of the healthcare community THE JOB OF AN RPh is to serve the patient. If a pharmacist is uncomfortable dispensing a legit schedule II then do us ALL a favor and resign. A RPh couldn’t handle the MCAT so now they simply emotionally abuse patients so redeem a sense of pathetic power. Your caveman thinking is EXACTLY THE PROBLEM WITH THIS SYSTEM. My physician was comfortable writing the script so shut up, do your meaningless job, fill my script and treat me with respect. Your thinking and arrogant, unrealistic thinking literally makes me want to stick my finger down my throat and vomit. You have no clue what a lifelong sentence in unrelenting pain after multiple surgeries is. Go work for CVS…you’ll fit right in!

      Reply
    • alawshe, on January 7, 2015 at 8:28 pm said:

      Pharmacist who refuse to fill force patients to pharmacy hop … then you label the patient … double standard much

      Reply
  12. rk, on November 29, 2014 at 4:09 pm said:

    Ridiculous

    Reply
  13. Mark ibsen, on November 29, 2014 at 2:56 pm said:

    This issue is accelerating. Three of my patients have been turned away in the last 24 hours during a severe snowstorm in Helena Montana

    Reply

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