“The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.” – Hubert Humphrey
passionate pachyderms
Pharmacist Steve steve@steveariens.com 502.938.2414
Malcolm MacDougall, a prominent speechwriter and creative director, was diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year. Even after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, his insurance company delayed and denied cancer treatments despite MacDougall paying his premiums. This is his story, in his own words, written five days before he died.
Tampa anesthesiologist Dr. Rafael Miguel helped lead the fight against a surging prescription drug abuse crisis in Florida.
As vice chair of the state’s Board of Medicine, Miguel called for legislative change to stem the flow of drugs that led to thousands of overdose deaths each year.
Eventually, people listened.
Laws tightened. Police stepped up enforcement. And deaths declined by 23 percent from 2010 to 2012.
Miguel now is in a different drug battle — one for more access to narcotics, not less.
The obstacle, Miguel and other doctors report, are pharmacies that are increasingly second-guessing them, asking to see medical records or refusing service.
“They call us sometimes and ask if (a prescription) is medically necessary,” said Miguel, 59, who has a Brandon clinic and teaches pain medicine at the University of South Florida. “Well, if I write a prescription and it’s got my DEA number and my signature on it, what do you think, I’m joking around?”
“Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it’s not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.”
― Will Rogers
Production up.. quality up.. prices down.. abuse up 500% -600% and they admit that things are unlikely to change.. it has taken them 100 yrs to figure this out?
It is estimated that we have some 6 million “hard-core” substance abusers… Most people – outside of our judicial system consider them as having a mental health disease call ADDICTION.
We just changed the definition of what a alcoholism is.. so that we have fewer alcoholics https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=7785 maybe so we can reduce studies on why alcoholics become alcoholics and reduce the cost of treating alcoholics .. we just now have a lot more people that DRINK TOO MUCH.. I find quite hypocritical in reading posts of
Rx dept staff that have little good to say about anyone taking controlled meds.. but.. state that once they get off work they go home to get some drink(s). When you think about it.. Alcohol is actually a controlled drug… those establishments that stock and sell it has to have a state permit to sell it. Same with wholesalers and producers. Some states.. the liquor stores are state owned.. others … the number of package liquor licenses are limited to some ratio of population.
It has been stated that we have some 11 million ILLEGAL ALIENS.. This week our President stated that we don’t have the resources to deport 11 million illegals.. So he used his pen and phone to put them into some sort of legal limbo of being legal in this country.
So we have the resources to deal with 6 million mentally ill people.. by incarcerating them ? .. and we have been doing this for 100 yrs and we still have 1%-2% of the population the same percent as 100 yrs ago… and we are dropping 51 BILLION a year.. that is about $9000.00 for each abuser… every year… and the numbers are changing
Maybe I am missing the point.. but.. isn’t ILLEGAL ALIENS the same as ILLEGAL SUBSTANCE ABUSE ? ILLEGAL IS ILLEGAL… isn’t it ?
We have 22 Veterans commit suicide every day.. because the VA is a mess… We have around 1 cop a day killed… and yet our Attorney General felt compelled to travel to Ferguson, MO and get involved with a local cop shooting.. before all the facts were known and the Grand Jury has yet to make a decision as of today.
In case no one noticed… this administration came to power in 2009 and all this crap with controlled meds… started up in 2010 and 2011.. is there a connection ? Holder is over DOJ and the DEA is within the DOJ.
Is it just me.. or does this administration seem very myoptic as to what is discrimination and what is not discrimination… and which group or subset of our population (legal and illegal) deserves federal intervention on what they feel is significant discrimination ?
And the President’s pick to replace Holder is well known for being a strong advocate of civil forfeitures https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=7778 It would appear that the mandate by the people in the mid-term election.. made little impact.. Maybe that is why they are called lame ducks.
David Herlihy, executive director of the Vermont Board of Medical Practice, reminded doctors that they can be conservative about dispensing medicines for chronic pain.
“We’ve never disciplined anybody for under treatment of pain,” he said
I guess this quote… puts… chronic pain pts in a different treatment category as anyone else with a chronic disease.
I wonder if this Board has ever disciplined any doctor for under treatment of a pt with diabetes, high blood pressure, warfarin therapy,COPD or other chronic diseases… which under treatment could cause the pt’s quality of life to be compromised or the pt could end up being hospitalized or even dies..
IMO.. this is a failure to meet best practices and standard of care.. attorneys refer to this as MALPRACTICE !
So if this quote is correct… the Vermont Board of Medical Practice does not consider the under treatment of chronic pain malpractice?
ABC7 News asked Giant why it took nearly a year before management detected thousands of missing prescription pills. A spokesman for the Prince George’s County-based grocer refused to answer the direct question, saying instead: “As this matter involves an ongoing legal investigation, we must refer all questions to the local authorities.”
IMO.. this is just another horrific example of our judicial system not following our own laws and the mentally ill.. are just something.. that needs to be “cleans from our society”
Spare my brother’s life, a schizophrenic man on death row
Scott Panetti is a paranoid schizophrenic who wore a TV-western cowboy costume in court and was allowed to represent himself while on trial for his life. But I know him as my big brother, the strong and handsome sailor, who came home to visit when on leave from the Navy.
Scott is scheduled to be executed in Texas on December 3, 2014 – unless the courts intervene or Governor Perry commutes his sentence to life in prison. Scott was convicted of murdering his in-laws, but he is not a cold-hearted killer. He is a very sick person who has suffered from severe mental illness for more than 30 years.
My brother suffers from the incurable and devastating mental illness schizophrenia. In the decade leading up to the offense for which he was convicted and sentenced to death, my brother was hospitalized more than a dozen times due to psychotic behavior.
In 1986, Scott first succumbed to the delusion that he was engaged in spiritual warfare with Satan. He became obsessed with the idea that the devil was in the house. He engaged in a series of bizarre behavior to exorcize his home, including burying furniture in the backyard because he thought the devil was in it.
The trial court should never have allowed Scott to represent himself. He was clearly extremely ill: he attempted to subpoena over two hundred witnesses, including the Pope, John F. Kennedy, and Jesus Christ. He frightened the jurors by assuming his alternate personality of “Sarge,” gesturing as though pointing a rifle into the jury box, and imitating the sound of shots being fired. He passed up a plea deal that would have saved his life. The court could have insisted that an attorney represented my brother, but it did not, and the outcome was his death sentence.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution forbids the execution of severely mentally ill individuals who do not understand the reason for their punishment. Scott is not mentally competent: he would go to the execution chamber believing his fixed delusion that he is being put to death for preaching the Gospels, not for the murder of his wife’s parents.
It’s not right for our country to use capital punishment on a severely mentally ill person like my brother Scott. You can find out more about the case here: texasdefender.org/scott-panetti
Having a brother on death row is like having a terminally ill family member. But there’s one big difference: we can’t stop a terminal illness, but we CAN do everything in our power to stop Texas from taking my brother’s life.
Please join me in asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend that Scott’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison and Governor Rick Perry to grant the commutation.
Please sign my petition to ask Governor Perry to spare my brother Scott’s life.
In regards to your concerns with pharmacies’ refusal to fill prescriptions, there is nothing in in this legislation that would prohibit the pharmacy from filling prescriptions. Please be advised that pharmacists are directed to exercise their independent professional judgment when filling prescriptions. Pharmacists are also required to monitor a patient’s drug therapy and to work with the patient’s prescribing health care provider. It is possible that the refusal to fill certain physician’s prescriptions is a policy of the pharmacy corporate office.
This is part of email from a director of a Board of Pharmacy… on a complaint of pts not being able to get their chronic pain meds.
How can a Pharmacist use his/her independent professional judgment and at the same time follow corporate policy..
Does that mean that the corporation is practicing pharmacy… which they are not and CANNOT be licensed to do..
Subject: Walgreen discriminating against me for valid prescription
I do not know who to call or who can help. I am currently homeless and we are staying in a hotel for a month now. My husband had a heart attack, we lost income our home our car everything and I walk into the pharmacy in orange park Florida with my written scripts in hand completely legal, 100% I am two day over the last fill date. I’ve been using Walgreen for 13 years but this pharmacy tells me they refuse to fill my script because I do not meet the criteria. My drivers license does not match my current address. I had to explain in front of 10 people waiting behind me about our homeless situation and I can answer any questions they have I have proper documentation and even the receipts for hotel were in for a month now. I went to walgreens because they have all my info in the system my history my insurance all of it, but now I was called this morning to tell me to come get my written prescriptions they are not going to fill them. I am being discriminated against by this pharmacy or pharmacist I think she got mad when I told her I was uncomfortable explaining my housing situation in front of all the people and I felt like a criminal like I was doing something wrong. I can go back to the Walgreens I’ve been getting them filled for months because it’s 40miles away in fernandina and I have no ride or money to drive all the way out there when I’m over here. I am humiliated, made to feel like a criminal and now I have to go get my prescriptions go somewhere else after waiting over 24 hours for them to decide to fill my medication. Nowi am out of medication and I have to walk 2 miles to the pharmacy to get my scripts back and then come all the way back and go 2 miles in the opposite direction to get to another pharmacy. I need help I am tired of being made to feel like I’m doing something wrong when I am not. I have all the info, you can all my doctor you can call the pharmacy in fernandina Walgreens ask them about my history but instead I am being discriminated against.
What do I do? Do I have a case for an attorney? I’ve emailed a complaint to customer affairs, Walgreens corporate and the ADA. I have emailed Ken Amero who is news person for channel 4 here in jax and asked him to look I to Walgreens pharmacy discrimination against the homeless. Help me Thank you
