how to deal with faked called in rx?

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lorain

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had a shady rx left on the VM, so i called the md back and they said they had nothing in the chart nor remembering calling in the 2 meds for that patient....doc wanted me to call the cops on them, which would be problematic as it would be a lot of work for me (because i have to fill and sell the script, to show the transaction took place), plus i have no proof the patient actually called it in themselves. So i closed the patients profile and told them we're never filling their scripts at our wags location, and i flagged her profile with a warning so that other wags rph are aware of this.

what would you have done? keep in mind i did 600 today, so i wanted a efficient solution
 
I would've called the cops. Even if the patient didn't call it in themselves, they would know who did because they would expect those scripts to be filled.

And I don't think you have to physically fill and sell the fake Rx to show the transaction. Calling in a fake Rx is illegal. I would have kept the phone message if possible, document that you verified the Rx with the prescriber, alert the police, stall when the patient came to pick it up, and have the police come in to question them.

We had an instance where someone sent their friend in with a forged Rx. We called the police, they questioned the guy, and charged both the guy who brought it in and the friend, and let the courts settle it.
 
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our policy is to do what the dr wants. they'll be the one to press charges. we give em the # to the po pos and the po pos come down. they told us they have to be caught in the act of buying it to get arrested. so we have to fill the fake rx and flag it so we dont accidently sell it. and the cops pose as customers and wait in the lobby for a few hours and hope to catch them
 
i realize now i made a mistake by not saving the VM

btw, the md threw the patient out of his practice today
 
You are not the police. DON'T get involved. DON'T call the police. You will spend your life in the criminal system, for which you will receive no remuneration....
 
Old Timer said:
You are not the police. DON'T get involved. DON'T call the police. You will spend your life in the criminal system, for which you will receive no remuneration....
Click to expand...

I learned the hard way; years ago, I called the cops on a fake oxycontin script and I had to go to give a deposition to the girls attorney...What a waste of time...Just tell them to get the effin out here and go about your day...
 
just make a note of it on their profile, i always put "verify controls, possible fake rx" in the comments box. i try not to get involved, for my own safety. they know you're the pharmacist and they know where you work, too many crazies out there. unless you float, then call the police.
 
patmcd said:
I would have called the cops and saved the VM message.
Click to expand...

You will soon learn that if you do that, you will be spending much of your time in legal battles...Not worth it...Like Oldtimer said, you are not the police...and I do not wish to police junkies...Not my job to do so...
 
Old Timer said:
You are not the police. DON'T get involved. DON'T call the police. You will spend your life in the criminal system, for which you will receive no remuneration....
Click to expand...

👍

I was called to testify regarding a forged script (though I didn't call the cops - the doc did). I ended up not having to testify because the guy pleaded guilty, but I spent the day in court, losing a day's pay, having to pay for the most expensive underground parking in the city, and being bored out of my skull for about 12 hours. AND you don't get any sort of compensation for that.
 
It is a waste of time calling the police. A floater and my lead tech caught some guy with a forged CII script and ended up wasting 3 days of uncompensated time since the guy kept having his trial postponed. When they finally did try him, he ended up with probation and a slap in the wrist -- thank God I wasn't on duty they day they discovered the forged script! But I ended up losing my lead tech for those 3 days.
 
From my own experience of a fake script. I called the doctor to verify the prescription. Doctor said to void it out and rip it up since he never wrote for it. Once the customer came back to pick up his prescription I ripped it up in front of his face and told him to leave. The customer was really upset and got the store manager to come in. The store manager came back to talk to me about the situation thinking that I was causing trouble, but I explained the situation to him and they got security to escort him out. I never saw the guy again.
 
Vyvanase said:
From my own experience of a fake script. I called the doctor to verify the prescription. Doctor said to void it out and rip it up since he never wrote for it. Once the customer came back to pick up his prescription I ripped it up in front of his face and told him to leave. The customer was really upset and got the store manager to come in. The store manager came back to talk to me about the situation thinking that I was causing trouble, but I explained the situation to him and they got security to escort him out. I never saw the guy again.
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lol, he thought you were causing trouble???lol I woulkd have just walked away after i told him it was a fake script...But thats just me...
 
Doctor M said:
You will soon learn that if you do that, you will be spending much of your time in legal battles...Not worth it...Like Oldtimer said, you are not the police...and I do not wish to police junkies...Not my job to do so...
Click to expand...

Well said. It is not our job to be the police. We have a duty to fill prescriptions for legitimate medical purposes. If you are presented a script that is not for a legitimate medical purpose, such as a forgery, don't fill it and move on. I would also suggest not playing games with these people. Desperate people do desperate things. Rip a forged Rx up in someone’s face and they may pull out and gun and shoot you in yours.

Here is what I do. If I get a voice message for a controlled substance for a patient who has never filled at our pharmacy or by a Doctor who is out of the area I always call to verify. If I find out it is not legitimate I simply erase the message and tell the patient nothing was called in. If the patient comes in before I have a chance to call I tell them I won’t fill it until I verify it with the Doctor.

I do the same thing on prescriptions that are brought in. If the patient has never filled at the pharmacy or it is from an out of area Doctor I call to verify. If it is a forgery they usually take it back and say they will fill it at their usual pharmacy. Sometimes they will throw a big fit and make a scene hoping you will fill it just to get rid of them. In this case I tell them I will not fill it unless I call the Doctor to verify and if they have a problem with that here is the prescription go somewhere else.
 
Doctor M said:
You will soon learn that if you do that, you will be spending much of your time in legal battles...Not worth it...Like Oldtimer said, you are not the police...and I do not wish to police junkies...Not my job to do so...
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. I worked nights in Phoenix for several years, and trust me, it ain't worth it. It's tough to get anything to stick, especially on phone-in scripts.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Rip a forged Rx up in someone’s face and they may pull out and gun and shoot you in yours.
Click to expand...

I agree. I worked with a pharmacist one time that told me a guy came in and ask for a refill on a control. The pharmacist told him he was about 20 days EARLY and he cannot refill it yet. The guy got very MAD and said," if you don't fill my script right now, I am going to go out to my truck and get a gun and blow your head off!!!"😱

My pharmacist fill the script and the crazy guy left and was never seen again! You are right! Its not worth risking your life to mess around with these people. If someone did that to me I would just fill the script and let them go. Too much risk and danger on my part to piss them off! 🙄
 
whats a control go for nowadays? $10.99? $19.99? Not worth it at all! Hopefully they take their junkie ass out and dont come back!
 
don't know if I had been a **** or not, but there was a "doc" that called in some controlled for some guy who was never at our pharmacy before. Luckily this is a small independent so it is easy to spot the unusual. I asked the "doc" why he did not fax the script to us, and he explained that he was running some kinds of "mobile" clinic without a fax machine. I said unless I could see an actual physical prescription from him, I would not feel comfortable filling it. The "doc" got p*ssed and asked so there was no way his patients can fill prescription from me. I said no and please do not call us again.
 
I politely tell them that it's probably a fake script and they usually ask how I know. Seems like half of the time they are too strung out to really care. I don't believe in getting the cops involved because I don't have the time and I really don't agree with using state resources on prosecuting addicts.
 
I wouldn't call cops prob i'd just put note that fake rx called in and to be very suspicious, I don't feel like dealing with court system and having my name in the legal system either unless absolutely necissary imho
 
Sabril said:
don't know if I had been a **** or not, but there was a "doc" that called in some controlled for some guy who was never at our pharmacy before. Luckily this is a small independent so it is easy to spot the unusual. I asked the "doc" why he did not fax the script to us, and he explained that he was running some kinds of "mobile" clinic without a fax machine. I said unless I could see an actual physical prescription from him, I would not feel comfortable filling it. The "doc" got p*ssed and asked so there was no way his patients can fill prescription from me. I said no and please do not call us again.
Click to expand...
Did you verify his DEA number or check his status with your medical board?

Seems very strange, and i probably would've done the same thing.
Mobile clinic seems so shady af
 
CetiAlphaFive said:
Did you verify his DEA number or check his status with your medical board?

Seems very strange, and i probably would've done the same thing.
Mobile clinic seems so shady af
Click to expand...

I didn't. I should have. But I did not want to have anything to do with that "doc" anyways. Even if he was a real doc, he was still at best a money grubbing slobby fool. Those are the kind that will get you in trouble.

the moment that I accept one of his scripts, he probably will park his happy "mobile" clinic in our parking lot and send patients in every 15 minutes.
 
Some years ago there was a guy calling in fake scripts for Norco (before it was CII) and getting it filled all over town, and on review I found out the travelling ER doc wasn't the person calling them in.

Next time he called it in, I suggested to the "doctor" we just give him #300 of the higher dose. Filled it with eye-vitamins and had the police detain him on the way out of the store.

I totally don't recommend doing that, but small town with only 12 pharmacies and local police, stuff gets done good and with a guilty plea I didn't even need to show up to court.

Our LP department billed him for the Eye-vite, too.
 
Schwimmy said:
Some years ago there was a guy calling in fake scripts for Norco (before it was CII) and getting it filled all over town, and on review I found out the travelling ER doc wasn't the person calling them in.

Next time he called it in, I suggested to the "doctor" we just give him #300 of the higher dose. Filled it with eye-vitamins and had the police detain him on the way out of the store.

I totally don't recommend doing that, but small town with only 12 pharmacies and local police, stuff gets done good and with a guilty plea I didn't even need to show up to court.

Our LP department billed him for the Eye-vite, too.
Click to expand...
Doesn't it change the nature of the crime if he's in possession of Eye-vite instead of Norco? Not to split hairs.
 
pharm B said:
Doesn't it change the nature of the crime if he's in possession of Eye-vite instead of Norco? Not to split hairs.
Click to expand...

They were already looking for him for the other pickups, so I don't think it mattered to them, but that is a good question. Impersonating a doctor and "forging" an rx would still be on the table though. The flip side of that, however: Would I be in trouble for dispensing Norco for what I knew was a fake rx?
 
Schwimmy said:
They were already looking for him for the other pickups, so I don't think it mattered to them, but that is a good question. Impersonating a doctor and "forging" an rx would still be on the table though. The flip side of that, however: Would I be in trouble for dispensing Norco for what I knew was a fake rx?
Click to expand...
This is one of those scenarios best pondered by an owl with a Tootsie Pop.

In my state, we had someone submit known forgeries. Called the po-po, who promptly picked her up while we delayed filling. She had several bottles of oxycodone on her person already, so that stuck like glue. But there was some sort of technicality regarding the scripts she gave us. Because she wasn't witnessed signing the document, they couldn't get her on forgery, but she did get charged with something else related to possession of a fake script.
 
Schwimmy said:
They were already looking for him for the other pickups, so I don't think it mattered to them, but that is a good question. Impersonating a doctor and "forging" an rx would still be on the table though. The flip side of that, however: Would I be in trouble for dispensing Norco for what I knew was a fake rx?
Click to expand...

Couldn't you get in trouble for misbranding? Or did you label the script as Eye-Vite?

Anyway I think as long as you work with law enforcement you shouldn't get in any kind of trouble. Now is that the reality of the situation? Who knows.
 
owlegrad said:
Couldn't you get in trouble for misbranding? Or did you label the script as Eye-Vite?

Anyway I think as long as you work with law enforcement you shouldn't get in any kind of trouble. Now is that the reality of the situation? Who knows.
Click to expand...
Theoretically, yes. But I believe it would be a criminal offense (not civil) so the district attorney would have to file the case, and they won’t.
 
zelman said:
Theoretically, yes. But I believe it would be a criminal offense (not civil) so the district attorney would have to file the case, and they won’t.
Click to expand...

Well the criminal could complain to the BOP about the misbranding I guess?
 
I do believe it would be illegal to fill an illegitimate script for a control just to help law enforcement.

I have a fake NDC in the system for "Hydrocortidone 10/325" for just that occasion.
Type that up, scan a note that says "deez nuts" as the hard copy, then fill the bottle with Certs.
 
Schwimmy said:
Some years ago there was a guy calling in fake scripts for Norco (before it was CII) and getting it filled all over town, and on review I found out the travelling ER doc wasn't the person calling them in.

Next time he called it in, I suggested to the "doctor" we just give him #300 of the higher dose. Filled it with eye-vitamins and had the police detain him on the way out of the store.

I totally don't recommend doing that, but small town with only 12 pharmacies and local police, stuff gets done good and with a guilty plea I didn't even need to show up to court.

Our LP department billed him for the Eye-vite, too.
Click to expand...
Years ago, one of the pharmacist I knew filled M&M for fake Vicodin Rx. I heard the guy paid for it and didn't bring it back!
 
Don't dispense the fake RX (obviously). I had a fake once. I called the police, they did nothing. I called the DEA, they did nothing (it was promethazine with codeine). Verify with the prescriber that it's fake then notify the authorities. Notify your local police and if it's a controlled substance let your regional DEA officer know. Then again, they may not care. Either way don't fill it.
 
lorain said:
had a shady rx left on the VM, so i called the md back and they said they had nothing in the chart nor remembering calling in the 2 meds for that patient....doc wanted me to call the cops on them, which would be problematic as it would be a lot of work for me (because i have to fill and sell the script, to show the transaction took place), plus i have no proof the patient actually called it in themselves. So i closed the patients profile and told them we're never filling their scripts at our wags location, and i flagged her profile with a warning so that other wags rph are aware of this.

what would you have done? keep in mind i did 600 today, so i wanted a efficient solution
Click to expand...

You would follow your company policy on this. Most likely, Walgreens wants you to alert your District Manager/Pharmacy Sup - I forget now what their management structure is. Either way, you give THEM all the info and ask THEM how to proceed. If you call the cops, that could technically be taken as participating or even initiating a sting operation. Most if not all companies are against that.
You want to cover your back, document what happened and inform your boss. It's possible that you didn't follow their preferred course action to the T but considering how busy you were, I think you handled it pretty well.
 
owlegrad said:
Couldn't you get in trouble for misbranding? Or did you label the script as Eye-Vite?

Anyway I think as long as you work with law enforcement you shouldn't get in any kind of trouble. Now is that the reality of the situation? Who knows.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can’t really picture a scenario here in which intentionally misbranding/misfilling a script (fake or otherwise) is the smartest move for the pharmacist. There are obviously better options.
 
lorain said:
(because i have to fill and sell the script, to show the transaction took place), plus i have no proof the patient actually called it in themselves.
Click to expand...

It is illegal to fill a script that you know to be fake (well, maybe this is a state thing?) At any rate, I wouldn't fill an illegal RX, nor would I misbrand it. As noted above, the act of calling in a fake script is illegal, no other evidence should be needed. Since the doctor wanted the cops called, I would have called them, I think it would be up to the doctor to press charges.
 
How do you handle out of town control prescriptions? Of course got one this weekend for CII. What scenarios do you fill, not fill? Steps you take to verify? When do you refuse?
 
CountBy5s said:
How do you handle out of town control prescriptions? Of course got one this weekend for CII. What scenarios do you fill, not fill? Steps you take to verify? When do you refuse?
Click to expand...

As long as its valid, fill it. Harder to tell if wet signature is valid if aren't familiar with docs signature. I live in a tourist town so frequently got out of town rxs phone and hardcopy. Use the usual steps to verify rx per dea rph handbook. Used to live in non tourist town, got rxs from aspen colorado (hours away) and florida, refused but they later were determined to be fake. If you have significant doubts, don't fill it and tell customer unable to verify (don't accuse them of wrongdoing) and give rx back when they ask for it.

My fav moment at wags was when my manager got an empty bottle ready with label for a fake rx. "Customer" came in drive through and police were called (they were waiting). We alerted the police and they surrounded "customer" cuffing them on their trunk. It was the first time no one honked their horn when the drive through got backed up.
 
Yeah we are a tourist town but we rarely get tourist or travelers due to the location of our store being set deep inside a neighborhood off the main roads.

We don't take CII if we can't verify it. Especially from Houston due to the number of shady doctors writing even electronically sending scripts with either accidently or intentional poor record management. If we get something for a new patient from out of town control we usually won't fill it. If they press us we call to verify. However, without verification we won't fill.
 
Haha I remember one time we found out we had someone forge a phoned in RX because the patient it was called in under called us and said he never went to the doctor. So we waited for the person to come in and pick up the script, random woman "picking up for her husband", big bug glasses and a hat. We told her we had a problem opening the safe and we phoned the cops. She waited for 20 minutes and then left. Cops came an hour and a half later. It was kind of surprising considering the OD rates in our area, my pharmacist and I kind of figured they'd get here quicker (I was an intern at the time).
 
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