Dear Pharmacist Steve
I read your article posted on the National Pain Report website because I was searching for information regarding what to do when denied pain meds.
I would like to share our experience with you. Please note that both my husband and I are Senior citizens and he is Disabled.
On Tuesday Dec 18, 2018 I was informed by our Pain Management doctor that Scripts had been sent to Martin’s Pharmacy in our hometown for both of us and were to be filled that day. Over the course of the next three days multiple attempts were made and we were always told they were not yet ready.
On Thursday December 20, I received a phone call at our home. The voice did not introduce himself, rather he rudely asked who I was and I replied and asked who was calling. He said: Martin’s Pharmacy and wanted to know who James was.I told him he was my husband. I asked for the man’s name at this point and he replied: Thomas Harsh and then began a diatribe, first stating he questioned the fact that my husband has. been prescribed four different Controlled Dangerous Substances from not only National Spine and Pain Center, but by two other Physicians. He stated he would not fill any of these because he questioned whether each Doctor was aware of the other’s prescriptions. He also then advised me “and I’m not filling yours either.” I also have a degenerative fractious spinal condition.
As a result my husband was without two very crucial medications that keep his pain level to about 4 at best.He was without the medications from the date the Prescription was due to be filled, Tuesday, December 18, until the Prescriptions were submitted to a different local Pharmacy by National Spine and Pain Management of Cumberland; they were finally filled at 6PM the evening of December 20, 2018.
During that lax in pain management coverage, the result of Pharmacist Thomas’s refusal to fill my husband’s prescriptions was that the coverage of the medication dwindled to none and he began withdrawal, i.e. sweating, nausea, and vast searing pain (well over ten on the pain scale) with convulsions.
On that Thursday evening I considered calling an Ambulance to take my husband to the local Emergency Room for pain relief. My husband is personally involved at our local NewsTalk Radio station, where he has produced many outspoken announcements about the fear of addiction. He is fully aware of the current Opioid Epidemic and how seriously it has ravaged our community. Yet, for him there are no other options, having had seven Back Surgeries and metal implanted from his lower back to his neck, nerve damage, diabetic Neuropathy, Parkinson’s Disease etc.
In short, our Martin’s Pharmacist could offer no way at all to resolve this situation to restore our medications.
This was the day before we were to leave for Christmas Vacation in the Cleveland, Ohio area, where we had prepaid reservations Friday through the following Wednesday at Holiday Inn Express, Mentor Ohio, and tickets to various events and other family Holiday gatherings.
Unfortunately, after three days off of Pain Meds, receiving meds only after a switch from Martin’s to another local Pharmacy, my husband’s pain was soaring, severe and sharp. He was finally able to resume pain management meds late Thursday but by Friday the 21st Dec, he was in no condition to make the trip. He stayed at home in Cumberland with my sister assisting him and we paid a friend to drive me to Cleveland, as I do not drive.
I feel my husband and I have suffered undue pain, humiliation, and financial loss, the result of the Pharmacist’s negligence.
Certainly, as a result of our long term customer status it would have been more prudent to advise us “Mr Drake, and Ms Melotti, I have some serious questions about your Medications and the way they are prescribed. I am filling these Prescriptions and I am giving you notice that you must provide me proof in writing from your Prescribing Physicians BEFORE I fill such again.”
I also feel notice like this should have been done in writing, requiring our signature of acknowledgement. This would have given us a chance to speak with each Doctor and secure such information for Martin’s Pharmacy.
We have been customers at Martin’s Store and Pharmacy for some time now; certainly long enough that a simple review of our Pharmaceutical records should have justified any immediate question of our integrity.
In addition to this first event I then called in a refill a week later for my husband for another one of his scripts, Clonazepam.
The auto refill system said it would be ready after 7 pm that same day. The following morning I called Martin’s pharmacy and spoke with a woman that said it was not yet ready but that she would take care of it and that she would send me a text message when the script was ready. After receiving three text messages advising us to come pick up my husband’s meds, I went to the pharmacy on Park St at 5:30 pm and was then told that the script was not ready and to wait. After waiting, the Pharmacy Clerk told me that the pharmacist had refused to fill the clonazepam.
Again, this is a medicine that me husband cannot stop ‘cold turkey.’ We were therefore again compelled to request that my husband’s neurologist send a new script to a different local pharmacy. The humiliation suffered at the counter this time was witnessed by two other people.
Can this Pharmacist do this? This has been a nightmare for us. We are two solid citizens of our community and feel that we have been wrongfully discriminated against. Fortunately I have managed to switch all our meds to a different pharmacy and I do feel like I am in control again of our lives but I really feel we have been wronged and would appreciate any help of information you can provide us.
Thanking you in advance,
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