TIRED of these RXs... (vent thread)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Apteka

Senior Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2004
Messages
254
Reaction score
2
I work in retail/community/chain pharmacy so I know many of you will say "suck it up, that's retail for you" but I am HONESTLY just AMAZED at the number of RXs I saw today.

Four, all in a row, with RXs per below.
TWO of them were friends... with RXs for the same thing, different doc.... ALL CASH paying, of course... (with some random "DISCOUNT" card, the AAA discount, whatever... one guy actually uses his 'real' insurance, LOL, $5 copay for meds that he can make $14,000 off of, that's a good deal... 80mg oxy goes for $80 per pill, right? )

Oxycontin 80mg (DAW1) #180, tk 2 ts po tid.
Oxycontin 40mg (DAW1) #90, tk 1 t po tid.
Oxycodone 30mg IR #540 (i forget the sig)
Xanax 1mg #120, tk 1 to po qid prn.

Eff me, but I did NOT go to pharmacy school so that I can fill these RXs so they can go to the 'other' market. I know this particular place where I was today is WELL-KNOWN in the circle of people who get their "RXs" filled, and boy, does word get around.

And if any of you try to tell me that I should believe that these are chronic pain patients, I have a Nigerian brother in law who is a prince and needs your bank account so he can wire you the extra money he has in his account.

I turned them away and told they could go to the pharmacy a few blocks down. I just got SICK of being played like that (seriously? you both come in to the pharmacy TOGETHER? seriously?)

Ok. end vent.
Question: WHAT is the deal with these docs who write these RXs? Oh COME NOW, monthly pickups of $3000 CASHED out RXs for oxy? All written by a handful of MDs? Does the DEA even care?????

Members don't see this ad.
 
Were they legit rxs? If not sure Verify rxs and arrest the *******es. Seems completely fake to me.
 
They are probably not fake but they are probably not legit. Have you called the DEA to report the doctor. I would say "I can't help you with these." Have a nice day....
 
Members don't see this ad :)
In my area, we just act as if we are filling them, we tell them to wait around/shop around while we're filling them. In reality, we're calling the narcotics squad from Nassau County Police Department. The detective left us his card and tells us to call whenever we suspect something.
 
I work in retail/community/chain pharmacy so I know many of you will say "suck it up, that's retail for you" but I am HONESTLY just AMAZED at the number of RXs I saw today.

Four, all in a row, with RXs per below.
TWO of them were friends... with RXs for the same thing, different doc.... ALL CASH paying, of course... (with some random "DISCOUNT" card, the AAA discount, whatever... one guy actually uses his 'real' insurance, LOL, $5 copay for meds that he can make $14,000 off of, that's a good deal... 80mg oxy goes for $80 per pill, right? )

Oxycontin 80mg (DAW1) #180, tk 2 ts po tid.
Oxycontin 40mg (DAW1) #90, tk 1 t po tid.
Oxycodone 30mg IR #540 (i forget the sig)
Xanax 1mg #120, tk 1 to po qid prn.

Eff me, but I did NOT go to pharmacy school so that I can fill these RXs so they can go to the 'other' market. I know this particular place where I was today is WELL-KNOWN in the circle of people who get their "RXs" filled, and boy, does word get around.

And if any of you try to tell me that I should believe that these are chronic pain patients, I have a Nigerian brother in law who is a prince and needs your bank account so he can wire you the extra money he has in his account.

I turned them away and told they could go to the pharmacy a few blocks down. I just got SICK of being played like that (seriously? you both come in to the pharmacy TOGETHER? seriously?)

Ok. end vent.
Question: WHAT is the deal with these docs who write these RXs? Oh COME NOW, monthly pickups of $3000 CASHED out RXs for oxy? All written by a handful of MDs? Does the DEA even care?????

Call doc and verify and then tell him these doses are extremely out of the ordinary...if you dont feel comfortable with them, dont fill them...I would not feel comfortable filling them...for a pt I knew well and knew they were in great pain, fine...for a group of friends, i say good bye too...
 
Aside from not filling them and calling the proper law enforcment (DEA, BCS) I'd call the guys insurance company and voice your concerns about fraudulent claims being filled. I doubt they'd be happy paying for these claims
 
I feel your pain there. all i can say is WOW! did you call the MD? if so, what was their response? I have had MDs get really upset when I call to ask if they are ok with what they gave the patient. I do agree with you. if they sold this on the street, they would have their house and cars paid for the year, with 1 month of this crap. In my state, I believe that the state medicaid does something like 1 long acting and 1 short acting CII per 30days. now while cost is prob the motivator, perhaps they are trying to prevent this type of abuse?
 
just fill them...it increases your script count
 
That's a wrongful death lawsuit waiting to happen...
(Does everyone remember the Methadone PRN script where the guy died? He was using Methadone PRN instead of as he was directed, per pharmacist error, and then ODed. He was taking way too much!)

If the scripts seem unreasonable, don't fill them. Do you really wanna get sued by the family after the guy dies? You know...?
 
oh, it was pretty damned obvious that these folks were not taking these medicines.

at least, not orally. They were likely ending up on our glorious streets..ugh..

I didn't call the doc bc these docs always write for these (seeing patient's history, all cashed out)...in terms of reporting these (seemingly crooked) docs, I saw the dea has a web reporting system.. But do I
need to clear this w my chain where I work?? It seems like the dea would need to see rx records to do an investigation, and my employer would have to get involved, right?

thanks for the feedback, everyone... Today I'm not in c2 central so it's a nice break...

for now I've been turning these peeps away saying I'm not comfortable filling these... I doubt ODing is the biggest concern here.

old timer.... Any tips on how to report to the dea? Or anyone else?
 
I left retail partly because of scripts like that.

When you argue with drs who prescribe like this, they say that pain is a subjective phenomenon and you can't prove my pt is diverting them, or that my pt isn't in pain, etc.

I'm sure I've ranted about this before - in the jail, we see tons of these healthy young guys getting heroic doses of Oxycontin from their drs by claiming all sorts of pain: "crippling" knee pain, "severe" lower back pain, etc. I'm talking guys under 35 years old, who are walking around just fine, no hx of serious injury or severe pathology. I recall an inmate picking up a huge full garbage can and emptying it, then running over to me to say he was on disability with severe back pain and needed his Oxycontin like his dr in the community prescribed.

There are a lot of drs who seem to have a very low burden of proof for pain.
 
Watch your back in the parking lot if you decide not to fill them.
 
i have 6 patients from same md that get 550 methadones each month, go figure
 
Members don't see this ad :)
oh, it was pretty damned obvious that these folks were not taking these medicines.

at least, not orally. They were likely ending up on our glorious streets..ugh..

I didn't call the doc bc these docs always write for these (seeing patient's history, all cashed out)...in terms of reporting these (seemingly crooked) docs, I saw the dea has a web reporting system.. But do I
need to clear this w my chain where I work?? It seems like the dea would need to see rx records to do an investigation, and my employer would have to get involved, right?

thanks for the feedback, everyone... Today I'm not in c2 central so it's a nice break...

for now I've been turning these peeps away saying I'm not comfortable filling these... I doubt ODing is the biggest concern here.

old timer.... Any tips on how to report to the dea? Or anyone else?

Call the local DEA field office and ask them to send an agent over. If you work for a chain, you probably should run it up the flag pole and see what they want to do. As for the prescriptions just repeat after me:

"I'm sorry,I can't help you with these prescriptions."

You have to make sure everyone in your store is on board. You can't be turning people down on Monday and have your partner fill them on Tuesday.
 
I work in retail/community/chain pharmacy so I know many of you will say "suck it up, that's retail for you" but I am HONESTLY just AMAZED at the number of RXs I saw today.

Four, all in a row, with RXs per below.
TWO of them were friends... with RXs for the same thing, different doc.... ALL CASH paying, of course... (with some random "DISCOUNT" card, the AAA discount, whatever... one guy actually uses his 'real' insurance, LOL, $5 copay for meds that he can make $14,000 off of, that's a good deal... 80mg oxy goes for $80 per pill, right? )

Oxycontin 80mg (DAW1) #180, tk 2 ts po tid.
Oxycontin 40mg (DAW1) #90, tk 1 t po tid.
Oxycodone 30mg IR #540 (i forget the sig)
Xanax 1mg #120, tk 1 to po qid prn.

Eff me, but I did NOT go to pharmacy school so that I can fill these RXs so they can go to the 'other' market. I know this particular place where I was today is WELL-KNOWN in the circle of people who get their "RXs" filled, and boy, does word get around.

And if any of you try to tell me that I should believe that these are chronic pain patients, I have a Nigerian brother in law who is a prince and needs your bank account so he can wire you the extra money he has in his account.

I turned them away and told they could go to the pharmacy a few blocks down. I just got SICK of being played like that (seriously? you both come in to the pharmacy TOGETHER? seriously?)

Ok. end vent.
Question: WHAT is the deal with these docs who write these RXs? Oh COME NOW, monthly pickups of $3000 CASHED out RXs for oxy? All written by a handful of MDs? Does the DEA even care?????

I would say sorry we dont have counts over 200. 540! :eek:
 
Filled a script the other day for 800+ tablets of MS Contin.

She was well known at the store though and has it ordered for her each month.

Also called on a guy getting 180mg of MS Contin TID plus hydromorphone. Turns out he was 300+ pounds and broke his back dirt biking.

There are docs in the area patients know are prescription mills. One of my techs told me when he used to live in CA he and his pharmacist bought hidden cameras and went in to one and shut them down. Doc had his pad out writing and was asking what they wanted before he even looked up and saw them.
 
I would say sorry we dont have counts over 200. 540! :eek:

Couple of years ago, I had to count out 540 tramadol out of a bottle of 1000 for..... a lady for her 5 daaawwwwwgs who were in pwwainnn. It was not a pleasuant experience. :cool:
 
Couple of years ago, I had to count out 540 tramadol out of a bottle of 1000 for..... a lady for her 5 daaawwwwwgs who were in pwwainnn. It was not a pleasuant experience. :cool:
And that's why I looooove my ScriptPro :p Although, when it breaks, all hell breaks loose because we're all so dependent on it.
 
God bless your right to refuse to fill them but damn you for not.

Activist pharmacists drive me nuts.
 
This is a daily occurrence in south FL. Check out this video. It's spot on.

I couldn't even watch passed the first 7 minutes without nearly crying... I've known too many people who have died just like that. Family and friends that I grew up with falling into that stuff... It's ridiculous and it's just filtering into other states as well.
 
A part of the problem is what I consider to be "american wussiness". Getting your cavity filled? Some novacaine. Pulling a tooth, some vicodin. Trip and fell? Percocet for you.

Back when I was a little boy growing up in asia, we don't need (and got) no freakin pain meds. Came to this country and the dentist was amazed that a little kid didn't want any pain meds after 4 wisdom teeth extractions. 5 stitches for a wound flap on the hand? Some Tylenol is all.

That's how it's done, son. I'm convinced that if you use meds as the easy way out, you will be less able to deal with pain and need more pain meds later.
 
Good post, xiphoid. When I've required medical care, I find that here in N. America, I get given 'way too much opioids. Four wisdom teeth out - dentist gave me a script for 30 T #3; I took two. My husband had part of his soft palate sliced and grafted onto his receding gums, and took 1 Toradol post-op. When I had major surgery, I was begging them, post-op, to stop poisoning me with Demerol - they were giving me 50mg q4h and it was making me sick as a dog.

But my methadone clients? They get menstrual cramps, and pop Percocet. One lady got stung by a wasp on her way to see her doctor, went crying into his office, and was rewarded with a script for Tylenol #4. I mean, excuse me? My daughter has been stung by wasps a couple of times, 1st when she was 5 years old. I put ice on it.

I could go on and on...a client got beaten up. No broken bones, but he showed up at the pharmacy with 2 black eyes - and a script for 40 morphine 10mg tablets. WTF??
 
It really irks me when someone in front of me has a script for pain meds torn in half and I have a script valid in WA for an Antibiotic (Kidney infection) and they won't fill it because an ND wrote it. They are licensed for most primary care in WA.

Well somehow the patient in frontof me bullies the pharmacist into filling the pain script.

GGRRRRR

I had back surgery in September. I got percocet, and I took one, which I think was 3 mg with 325mg of tylenol in it. I got knocked on my ass, even my dog thougt I was dead. I only took one dose, then resorted to Tylenol and Aleve.

How are these getting filled? I wonder if the docs writing those are getting some sort of kickback all speculation, but omg.

Pain pills piss me off there are times it's warranted, and I've used them in dire situations, but that script would peeve me too even as a customer. The ones that don't need it are most vocal about it.
 
I've had major surgery and never took pain pills either... they just don't really work for me anyway so I'd rather not take them. Who wants to be tired and sick for no reason. Luckily they never made me itch... but probably because I never took enough. LOL
 
If you guys suspect Something is wrong, look into it. Just 2 months ago I ran into a scam that at least 5 guys were getting #60 oxycotin and #120 of percocet based off Rx and dea# from resident who moved 2 states away. It turns out that they were somehow diverting a hospital's controlled scripts away from the hospital.
 
If I write a weird script, I REALLY hope the pharmacist will call me and clarify. Regardless of what else happens, you are the last fail-safe between us and a dead patient.

So please keep on calling.
 
If I write a weird script, I REALLY hope the pharmacist will call me and clarify. Regardless of what else happens, you are the last fail-safe between us and a dead patient.

So please keep on calling.

What's your number?;)
 
It really irks me when someone in front of me has a script for pain meds torn in half and I have a script valid in WA for an Antibiotic (Kidney infection) and they won't fill it because an ND wrote it. They are licensed for most primary care in WA.

Well somehow the patient in frontof me bullies the pharmacist into filling the pain script.

GGRRRRR

I had back surgery in September. I got percocet, and I took one, which I think was 3 mg with 325mg of tylenol in it. I got knocked on my ass, even my dog thougt I was dead. I only took one dose, then resorted to Tylenol and Aleve.

How are these getting filled? I wonder if the docs writing those are getting some sort of kickback all speculation, but omg.

Pain pills piss me off there are times it's warranted, and I've used them in dire situations, but that script would peeve me too even as a customer. The ones that don't need it are most vocal about it.

NDs are just as scary. We have 2 that attempt to prescribe in my town. I say attempt because they have no idea what they are doing. Neither one of them can dose or prescribe the correct ABX for anything.

I had one try to call in Vanco to treat an UTI for a guy a couple months back. I started laughing on the phone, I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to tell her to stick to prescribing twigs and thistles but instead I guided her dumb*** through what to do. Then she wanted to do a 3 day duration and I corrected her again.

I gave her the IDSA web address, I wonder if she will even look at it...:thumbdown:

Message to public- Stay away from these charlatans! In no way, shape or form do they come close to replacing a licensed physician. WebMD will out diagnose them anyday of the week!
 
Hi PumpkinSmasher:

I think it depends on where your ND trained and what their specialty was. Also some of them are very good.

Natural medicine is certainly not a replacement for allopathic medicine. I choose to try natural first for some things then graduate onto allopathic if it's not working.

I do go to the teaching clinic here sometimes because it is very inexpensive to see the Doctor. Also there's an MD who is overseeing a lot of what they do. Yes some of them are charlatans, and some of them are horribly uncaring and unknowing. It's just like any other field of medicine.

However there are MDs that sell snake oil too. The program at the school here is close to 6 years. They have some pretty intensive education. I had actually thought about going that route, but I feel that it's not for me, not in the way I wish to practice medicine. One day I will do it simply for enrichment, but that's a long time off.

My ND friends, and having done massage I have a lot of them, are all very competent. There's bad apples in every group.

Sorry you got someone that didn't know dosages. That's really bad. I cannot say anything as I don't know where they trained. If they did train here, then I'm thinking they did not go to class.

Many of our drugs are synthesized from plants, and were used in a naturopathic way before being synthesized.

Okay I have defended naturopathy enough :D

Have you had experience with multiple NDs? If so I'm sorry to hear it. I'd be curious to see where they went to school.

A
 
How much is 20 Vicodin generic 5mg, no insurance?
 
Watch your back in the parking lot if you decide not to fill them.

NO KIDDING, right? with my nametag with my FIRST AND LAST name clearly visible to all, thank GAWD i use a PO Box as my address on record.

& Flapjacks: not sure how that question relates to the topic at hand... but I think #20 vicodin GENERIC 5/500mg would run you anywhere from $10 to $20, depending on which store you go to, and if you have a AAA discount card, etc.
 
It really irks me when someone in front of me has a script for pain meds torn in half and I have a script valid in WA for an Antibiotic (Kidney infection) and they won't fill it because an ND wrote it. They are licensed for most primary care in WA.

Well somehow the patient in frontof me bullies the pharmacist into filling the pain script.

GGRRRRR

I had back surgery in September. I got percocet, and I took one, which I think was 3 mg with 325mg of tylenol in it. I got knocked on my ass, even my dog thougt I was dead. I only took one dose, then resorted to Tylenol and Aleve.

How are these getting filled? I wonder if the docs writing those are getting some sort of kickback all speculation, but omg.

Pain pills piss me off there are times it's warranted, and I've used them in dire situations, but that script would peeve me too even as a customer. The ones that don't need it are most vocal about it.

See, that's the thing with pain pills. You don't know how different people react to them. When I was prescribed Vicodin ES, I'd have to take 3 tablets at once to get any pain relief. When I was prescribed Percocet 5/325, I had to take 2 tablets for pain relief, it didn't make me drowsy, but it did make me pretty nauseous.

Tramadol is the one drug that I can take 50 mg and knock out all pain. And the only drug that makes me fall asleep fast is 50 mg of Benadryl.
 
Hi PumpkinSmasher:

I think it depends on where your ND trained and what their specialty was. Also some of them are very good.

Natural medicine is certainly not a replacement for allopathic medicine. I choose to try natural first for some things then graduate onto allopathic if it's not working.

I do go to the teaching clinic here sometimes because it is very inexpensive to see the Doctor. Also there's an MD who is overseeing a lot of what they do. Yes some of them are charlatans, and some of them are horribly uncaring and unknowing. It's just like any other field of medicine.

However there are MDs that sell snake oil too. The program at the school here is close to 6 years. They have some pretty intensive education. I had actually thought about going that route, but I feel that it's not for me, not in the way I wish to practice medicine. One day I will do it simply for enrichment, but that's a long time off.

My ND friends, and having done massage I have a lot of them, are all very competent. There's bad apples in every group.

Sorry you got someone that didn't know dosages. That's really bad. I cannot say anything as I don't know where they trained. If they did train here, then I'm thinking they did not go to class.

Many of our drugs are synthesized from plants, and were used in a naturopathic way before being synthesized.

Okay I have defended naturopathy enough :D

Have you had experience with multiple NDs? If so I'm sorry to hear it. I'd be curious to see where they went to school.

A

Quackery, plain and simple. Evidence based medicine baby! :smuggrin:
 
Alright, I'll agree to disagree Pumpkin Smasher :)

A
 
As others have said I would call and verify the indications, etc. Where I work (hospital) we have a large population of sickle cell patients so seeing doses that high is not unusual, hell we give 6mg Hydromorphone IVP when they walk in the ER! However, without knowing any other information, I too would call and verify given the circumstances.
 
AH, the more we dig....

The more we dig, the more we find. SO, in retrospect, we have seen quite a FEW patients who have filled Oxy (Cashed out, brand only, qty larger than #240 of 2 doses) and turns out... handwriting is the SAME on ALL Rxs!!

Hm. Unless the SAME receptionist/nurse/clerk/medical assistant is working at ALL these doctors' offices (over the span of 2 years,) it seems quite likely that most of these pads (5 or so docs) are stolen.

WTF? Do doctors even lock these things up???? Do they just have 'em lyin' around the doctor's examination rooms, so that any potential criminal can have their take of 50 or so controlled RX scripts???

We just had a prominent neurologist "write" one of these Rxs... we called to verify, kept the script, a few days later, he went to a pharmacy 90 minutes away to fill the same script (written on another control script). We annotated "stolen pad" but heck, if it's a busy pharmacy, who knows if that even gets done.... Are these 'inside jobs'???
 
It really irks me when someone in front of me has a script for pain meds torn in half and I have a script valid in WA for an Antibiotic (Kidney infection) and they won't fill it because an ND wrote it. They are licensed for most primary care in WA.
An ND (Naturopathic Doctor) can prescribe in WA, but their scope of practice is limited to natural products, including drugs that are not synthetic or semi-synthetic. The things that are typically prescribed for a kidney infection are not natural products. Most likely your Rx was legitimately declined.
 
Bananna I hought the legislation had changed, because they are prescribing and having anitbiotics filled. I don't kow how it's being done, I've been following on it.

Maybe someone is just not noticing when it happens, ok, well if that is the case, I'll relook the laws up.

Maybe it's something the office is doing, or perhaps it's okay under MD supervision, though these folks generally weren't working with MDs.........

Thank you.

A
 
Last edited:
Just on the topic of ridiculousness . . A guy dropped off 3 rx's from a local ER yesterday - antibiotic, Vicodin 5/500, albuterol HFA. Doesn't want the albuterol HFA of course. Go to fill the others and he got a 2 week supply Vicodin 5/500 from his usual doc a couple days before. I call the ER doc, explain the situation and ask, "what do you want me to tell him?" Response, "tell him he's a bastard and he can't have it." "Gotcha". That was honestly the best response I had heard in a long time. Especially because he didn't hesitate and I wish that's actually what I could have told the customer . .
 
I had a few scripts today that made me want to vent...

I was suspecting that I had a case of bronchitis, likely viral, so I stopped by a walk-in clinic, hoping to get something such as an albuterol inhaler and maybe a little cough syrup. (Yes, I've been the annoying person constantly hacking away in the back of the classroom).

The doctor asked me which pharmacy I wanted my meds sent to, and I instructed her to send them to the pharmacy that I work at. THis is what was sent:

1) Z-pack: Take 2 tablets today, then take 1 tablet daily for 4 days. Wait 5 days, and repeat course. #2, 1 refill (FOUR total Z-packs)
2) Medrol Dose Pack: Take 6 tabs x 2 days, 5 tabs x 2 days, etc, alternating packs until gone, #2 packs, 1 refill (FOUR total dose packs)
3) Cheratussin AC: #240ml, 1 refill
4) Ventolin HFA: Inhale 2 puffs every 2 hours as needed, #1 inhaler, 2 refills

I'm pretty sure this is enough medication to take care of about four sick people, provided these meds would treat their illness.
 
Top