And rightly so….
Let’s level the playing field !
These are comments on the above post of mine.. I noticed that this particular post has been sent on to FaceBook – SEVENTY FIVE TIMES
Pharmacist’s “professional discretion” and/or the companies they work for “good faith policy” is not going over too well in the chronic pain community. There are a estimated 100 -116 million in that community and if just ONE-PERCENT files complaints.. that is over ONE MILLION complaints.. that is a large enough number that I think will be TOO LARGE for bureaucrats to ignore..
https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=5246#comment-2047
Reading your reply left me livid! I have been left multiple times without my medication because no Walgreens; who I have been filling with for more than ten years, seems to have my medication! How long and how often should I be left without medication? And when I get desperate enough and go to the hospital and get no help … how many return trips should I expect to make in order to get a physician fearless enough of the DEA or whoever else they may be afraid of to be sure I get the medication that I have the prescription for in my purse that I have been unable to fill! Lastly ….. how would you feel if an ER doctor called a pharmacist to be sure you could fill that prescription that you have been out of for days because no one seems to have the medication on hand or better yet … just does not feel comfortable filling for you! When the ER doctor locates your medication, and has your friend take it across the street to that pharmacy and they except it …. how would you feel when you got a call about 40 minutes after you have left the hospital and were told that they had made an error and did not have your medication? How would you then feel if you tried to explain that you were desperate for your medication at the Walgreens stores pharmacist and instead of filling that script; they called the sheriff to come visit you and caused you to be baker acted ….. after you went to the ER again … after the store was not willing to fill for you on the basis that they made an error PS. this is not hypothetical and happened to me just a few weeks ago! Wear my shoes for a few days and feel the pain and then the agony which comes with defeat!
https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=5246#comment-2046
like some others have a pain specialist that is more than 40 miles away! Why? Because I have an implanted morphine pump and my insurance company has no one in network that has the ability to work with my pump! This has me going to an out of network doctor which is more than 40 miles away! However, I do not think it should matter how far the doctor is that you are going to …. isn’t that between me and my doctor and my insurance if I have any? If I just happen to like a particular doctor a move 25 miles away; why should anyone be forced to change doctors if they do not want to!
I live in Florida and have been a pain patient for more than ten years but I was completely unaware at what was happening in Florida until it started being reported on the news! I however am not in the position of making sure doctors are doing the right thing or anything else such as the DEA is. I feel that the people in charge let things get way out of hand before they decided to do anything. Why would they just continue to let these pill mills exist and continue to grow in numbers for so long? Why would they let others come in from out of state and see multiple doctors and then fill all their scrip’s and return home for so long? And now why is it that the chronic pain sufferers who live in Florida are seeing our prescriptions denied or waiting days before we can find someone willing to fill our scrip’s! Why is it that our doctors are afraid to continue to prescribe a therapeutic dose for those that need more than the DEA thinks they should? Yes, look at all the pain specialists who they have went after … they too are just as afraid of writing these scripts as we are of not being able to fill them!
This is not an issue of fairness … it is much more than that if you rely on these medications! For those of you who think you would not touch a pill …. let me break your neck and back and see how you feel afterwards about the issue!!!
Filed under: General Problems
Well folks, you made them what they are today. The corporate pharmacies could care less about you or your health, regardless of the claims made by their slick television ad campaigns. Don’t worry though, they could care less about their employees either. Everybody bitches about their piss-poor service and ridiculous wait times, but you lemmings keep coming back for more and more. Here’s an idea, find a small local pharmacy, go in on a Tuesday through Thursday afternoon. Introduce yourself to the staff and explain that you’re fed up with whatever 3 lane drive through behemoth corporate pharmacy you use now and ask them to transfer your prescriptions. If you are a chronic pain patient and are seeing a single, legitimate, prescriber and having your meds filled once a month, talk to them about that situation couple of weeks before you run out of meds. You’ll be amazed at the difference in your experience when you find the right pharmacy!!
Finally, the voice of reason. I’ve been saying this for years. Find a friendly, local, independent pharmacist. They will be happy to have your business and will treat you with absolute respect. They will fill your legitimate prescriptions because they know the doctor and where he is. They will get to know you and will trust you because you don’t lose your pills. You get your refills on time and take your meds as ordered.
But most of the people bitching on this site are not legitimate patients. They see multiple doctors, visit multiple emergency rooms, get as many prescriptions as they can and then complain when the pharmacist is smarter than they are. All that time and effort only to be denied by a pharmacist doing the right thing. A pharmacist can tell the good ones from the bad ones. That’s a fact that some people just don’t like.
I agree that many pharmacists can examine the prescription and the patient and reach a conclusion if the prescription is legitimate or not. However, most pharmacists are not going that far they will just see what the medication is and if it is a C2 they will just refuse to fill them. Many pharmacies, including the chains, have signs saying they do not fill controlled prescriptions at all. I have began to take pictures of these signs and the store business license and plan to file complaints with the Florida Pharmacy board, DPR, Medicare, Medicaid, Agency for Health Care Administration, and the DEA. I have not found any regulation that gives a pharmacy the right to refuse to carry a specific class of medications and I am interested tp know whether any such regulation exists. All pharmacists should remember that any pain management specialist does not normally write prescriptons for medications other than narcotics, steroids, anti-inflamatory drugs, muscle relaxers, and benzos do to the nature of their type of practice. It must be expected that prescriptions written by pain management doctors will be almost exclusively narcotic so of course these specialists will write many such prescriptions. When a pharmacist is presented with a C2 prescription from a local pain management doctor he must consider that the patient most likely has chronic pain condition and the only non-interventional course of treatment are drugs many pharmacists are finding objectionable. I think a pharmacist should be required to verify every controlled prescription and if a prescription is found to be written correctly and for a medically acceptable treatment it must be filled if not it should be reported to law enforcement,
This sounds like me in Tennessee that went to 6 pharmacies. Just to be told they didn’t have it and wouldn’t order it. But then get points because I use to different pharmacy. Right now I don’t believe anything they say including the bald 71 year old at Wal-Mart on old fort parkway in Murfreesboro Tennessee that wouldn’t even tell me his name lol. I started with my pain management when he was 10 miles away. When he moved offices I didn’t hesitate to drive the 40 miles to stick with a doctor that knew me.
They have to give their name as a licensed professional…