Why is it always the new/floater Pharmacist ? Don’t they know there is a process to display the pt’s previous med history at the store from the pharmacy computer system? Don’t they have access to the state’s PMP ? Do they just have a chronic case of LAZY ASS SYNDROME ? I would sure hate to throw someone in their 60’s with all her medical issues into withdrawal.
My Wife and I are in our sixties and we are both disabled and in constant pain. Our prescription lists are both quite long and among other things contain pain medication, muscle relaxants. My Wife has has severe Scoliosis and significant Spinal Stenosis and Gastrological problems, Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis, early onset Alzheimer’s and she is also a Cancer survivor, just to list the main issues. I am not much better off with A-Fib, a Clotting Disorder, a Panic Attack Disorder, severe Osteoarthritis of my knees, hips and lower back, and I too am a Cancer survivor. Our daily live contain a lot of pain. My Wife has no health insurance so she can’t get into Pain Management any more so her GP manages her pain and her other issues. I have Medicare so I can go to Pain Management. We both have been on the same pain meds for about 12 years now, with a few variations.
About a year ago our Walgreens Pharmacist (he was new to the store then) started challenging and then refusing our pain medication prescriptions. At that point in time we were both being seen by the same Doctor. He said that our Pain was being mismanaged and that the 240 tablets (2 pills every six hours) of Hydrocodone (10/325) was too many pills to take per month. He then told us that he wanted to intercede on our behalf with our Doctor to see about changing our meds to a time-released medication that would involve fewer pills per day. Now at that point I felt like to was actually practicing medicine without a license and overstepping his bounds as a Pharmacist. More about this later in this message. Please bear in mind that my Wife has been hospitalized 72 times since 2001 and through ER 148 times in two states (Michigan & Florida) and her formulary has been reviewed by Hospital Pharmacists, Specialist, GPs and Pain Doctors and no one as every challenged her meds, not until Walgreens.
Then about a year and a half ago I got into a Pain Management Clinic and I changed to a different GP, one that my Cardiologist recommended. They did not change my medications either. Then in July of this year they (collectively as a Practice) changed there formulary (probably due to DEA and other pressures here in Florida). They moved me from Hydrocodone to Oxycodone time-released 40mg tablets every six hours. The copay for the Oxy was over $220.00 and we cannot afford that on my Social Security, so they changed it to two Methadone tablets every six hours. When I took my new scripts into Walgreens the problem Pharmacist never said another word to me but he still will not fill my Wife’s scripts for Hydrocodone. So we moved all of our prescriptions to Publix, except for my Methadone, Publix does not carry Methadone. She has been getting her scripts filled at Publix for over a year now.
Now today I went into Publix and there was a “floater” there (a stand-in Pharmacist) I gave her the same scripts that I give them every month for my Wife (pain meds and other meds) and that they have been filling for over a year and a half, and she refused to fill them. She said that since my wife was on an Alzheimer’s that it might not be safe and that she was not comfortable with filling them. I explained to her my wifes medical history (in detail) and reminded her that Publix had been filling her scripts for almost two years and that the hospital pharmacists had reviewed her scripts three different times on the past four months (during her hospitalizations) and no one had challenged anything! She said that if she could have reviewed this with her doctor then perhaps she could have, so I said call him but then she refused. So I took the scripts back and got them filled at at a different Walgreens store without issue.
The reason that I am writing to you today is two fold, at least. First to share the story with you and to ask advice. Secondly to explore what my Wife’s rights are, how to file a complaint and with whom. The publix Pharmacist refused to fill my Wife’s meds today for HYDROCODONE /ACETAMINOPHEN 10-325 T, CLONAZEPAM 0.5MG TABLETS, CARISOPRODOL 350MG TABLETS and AMITRIPTYLINE 100MG (HUNDRED MG) TAB. Two of the four will cause her to go into withdrawal and in her condition this could easily prove fatal and at the least it subjects her to incredible pain. So please explain to me how any Pharmacist can ignore a VALID PRESCRIPTION and knowing full well that she would be putting my Wife’s life in jeopardy due to withdrawal??? I always thought that it was the doctors cll as who get what meds and when. So who can I call or write to to complain and who is legally culpable in the case, the Pharmacist, the Pharmacy or who? Obviously, I am really upset and I am willing to pursue this to the max, because I know we cannot be the only ones that are being harassed and discriminated against!!!
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