Scum of the Week

[8744]

True story:

I sent one of my patients home the other day with a prescription for oxycodone. A nice, elderly lady with legitimate chronic pain. I got a call from the nurse who said that the patient had called saying that the pharmacy would not fill the lady's prescription. I called the patient who said that CVS said didn't carry 30 mg Oxycodone tablets and couldn't fill the prescription.

So I called the pharmacy and asked why they wouldn't fill the prescription. The pharmacist said that they had filled it and it had been picked up by her son. Apparently the son had xeroxed the prescription, cut it out, given her the copy and taken the real script to the pharmacy.

Scumbag.

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[Telemachus]

I too have seen elderly patients have their narcs swiped by relatives.....

 

[AceMcgovern]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances. that's what i would expect if i were a patient. so easy to forget from our positions of privilege--- but that could be any of us. i see it every day.

(flame away -- my cynical colleagues.)

True story:

I sent one of my patients home the other day with a prescription for oxycodone. A nice, elderly lady with legitimate chronic pain. I got a call from the nurse who said that the patient had called saying that the pharmacy would not fill the lady's prescription. I called the patient who said that CVS said didn't carry 30 mg Oxycodone tablets and couldn't fill the prescription.

So I called the pharmacy and asked why they wouldn't fill the prescription. The pharmacist said that they had filled it and it had been picked up by her son. Apparently the son had xeroxed the prescription, cut it out, given her the copy and taken the real script to the pharmacy.

Scumbag.

 

[beyond all hope]

I try to understand the plight of the addicted. There is a certain point, though, where people have to take responsibility for their own actions.

Stealing narcs from grandma and leaving her in pain = scumbag.

 

[trkd]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances. that's what i would expect if i were a patient. so easy to forget from our positions of privilege--- but that could be any of us. i see it every day.

(flame away -- my cynical colleagues.)

I don't think scumbag and sick are mutually exclusive. I think this person is both. Probably as you said it though, sick first but then I think this is leading him to be a scumbag. Stealing money from grandma for drugs maybe because someone is "sick" but it also still makes them a thief (and a scumbag on the side). Point taken though. I don't think he was doing it with the primary purpose of screwing with the grans. I think he is legitimately sick. Very sad.

 

[mikecwru]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances. that's what i would expect if i were a patient. so easy to forget from our positions of privilege--- but that could be any of us. i see it every day.

(flame away -- my cynical colleagues.)

You're very naive.

Scumbag is a fairly kind term for this lowlife.

People have addictions and will go to varying levels to satisfy them. This is an interplay between their addiction and who they are as a person.

There are plenty of dope addicts that wouldn't ice someone for another hit.

Just like people that blame everything on alcohol. I've been intoxicated to the point of blacking out... but I've never driven a car or punched someone. People that are dinguses at baseline become bigger dinguses when drunk.

I'm done feeding the troll.

mike

 

[docB]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

You’re assuming that the fine, fine gentleman in question was stealing his mom’s meds for personal use. It’s just as likely that he stole them so he could pocket the street value. Is he a scumbag then?

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

It’s not? It was his work that was ruined by the act. He is the one who will now have to rewrite a scheduled script and to avoid problems from the scrutiny that will cause he’ll have to request the chart and write an addendum explaining everything. Doing all of this will cost him roughly the productivity of one Level 3 patient. So he really doesn’t get to have an opinion about it?

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances. that's what i would expect if i were a patient. so easy to forget from our positions of privilege--- but that could be any of us. i see it every day.

The criminal that we’re talking about was not Panda’s patient. Panda’s patient was the victim of the fine, fine gentlemen in question. Panda has no relationship with the thief.

Now you’re pointing out that you’ve made the assumption that everyone on the board is speaking from a position of privilege. That’s the only reason that we are not thieving junkies, we are the winners of life’s lottery. But addiction happens to the well off too. We’re all taught that you can’t assume a person is not an addict just because they have money. So if addiction crosses socioeconomic lines then isn’t it a result of bad choices?

(flame away -- my cynical colleagues.)

I routinely watch the people’s addictions clog the ER to the point that patients with legitimate problems that could be treated in an ED are prevented from getting that help. Every day I get scammed for narcs and benzos and I supervise the drunken legion while they metabolize to freedom so they can do it all again. I certainly have the right to have an opinion about it.

 

[BKN]

As Mike suggested, this just feeds the troll.

Or, the poster is so naive that there's no chance he'll see reality until he's worked the pit for a few years, if then.

Let's ignore him.

 

[deuist]

AceMcgovern: Is he a scumbag?

Yep. Wait, I don't want to jump to conclusions. Let me just check here and... yep, he is a scumbag.

 

[bustbones26]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances. that's what i would expect if i were a patient. so easy to forget from our positions of privilege--- but that could be any of us. i see it every day.

(flame away -- my cynical colleagues.)

Not necessarily, Oxycodone can go for about $10 per pill on the street. May have no addicition problem at all, just financial gain at interest.

No matter, can't blame a doc for being upset about this or calling him a scumbag.

 

[DrQuinn]

Scumbag? Or Fatty McFattypants?

Aye-yai-yai, time for me to get some sleep.

Q

 

[leviathan]

should he be held accountable in some way for his actions -- yes? but scumbag?--its not your place to judge.

we see addicts every day. it saddens me that some think "scumbag" when we should be thinking about treating the patient--without judgement for their individual circumstances.

As someone else said, where do you draw the line between blaming one's actions on their unfortunate circumstances and on themselves? Should we let serial killers go free because they had a troubled childhood, or rapists go because they had uncontrollable sexual urges? Most people who have troubled childhoods don't become serial killers, and most people with high sexual drives do not rape people. Ultimately at the end of the day, they're scumbags regardless of the reasons.

 

[docB]

Scumbag? Or Fatty McFattypants?

Aye-yai-yai, time for me to get some sleep.

Q

Atrocious conduct in life = scumbag. Atrocious conduct on SDN = Fatty McFattypants.

 

[AceMcgovern]

change

 

[8744]

mike-- someone who drinks to the point of blacking out is *at risk* for doing just about anything. you've been lucky so far. let's hope if (when?) you do black out next and you are unlucky and do something you regret, you dont end up in panda's E.D. and he writes you off as a scumbag.

as someone who at one point struggled with addiction, i wonder where i would be if people in my life at the time said "scumbag", rather than "person with a problem deserving of compassion."

addicts come in all shapes and sizes. we work in your EDs. we manage your hospitals. its sad -- but some us once did despicable things like steal our grandmother's prescriptions. that's the nature of addiction. not an excuse -- just an explanation.

perhaps some of you should check out a local A.A. meeting to see what some of these "scumbags" who come into our EDs are capable of doing in recovery. it gives me hope to not write people off.

enough with my soapbox. my apologies to people who think i am trolling.

(btw, i am a resident. i post to this board from time-to-time. i know what i am talking about. like all of us, i see it every day.)

Dude. Homeboy stole his mother's prescription for pain meds for his own use, either financial or recreational. His mother was in serious pain when she called me. I ordinarily don't rewrite narcotic prescriptions for the exact reason stated in this thread but I made a rare exception in this case because I knew the patient very well and knew she wasn't BSing me.

Steal your mother's pain meds leaving her writhing in agonizing pain while you party with your worthless friends: Scumbag. The very definition of scumbag. Your picture in the dictionary next to the word "scumbag."

Grand Marshal of the Scumbag parade during "Scumbag Days" in the town of Scumbag, West Virginia.

 

[8744]

Guest of Honor and featured speaker at the National Association of Scumbags annual meeting.

 

[deleted87716]

Scumbag. The very definition of scumbag. Your picture in the dictionary next to the word "scumbag."

Grand Marshal of the Scumbag parade during "Scumbag Days" in the town of Scumbag, West Virginia.

King of the Scumbag Prom. Chairman of the Board of Scumbag, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCUM). Voted "Most likely to become a scumbag" by his high school class. Elected to County Chief Scumbag for a second term (running unopposed.) Bumpersticker on his truck: "Proud to be a Scumbag." On the other side: "I brake for Drugs."

Let's keep this going.

 

[Jeff698]

no panda. not a scumbag. just a person with an addiction. deserving of your compassion like any person with an illness. he must be pretty a pretty sick person to steal a prescription from *his own mother*.

Hmm, isn't this the definition of a scumbag?

Self-destructive behavior is one thing. When you're behavior directly effects others you graduate to scumbag level in my book.

Call me cynical all you want.

Wait. Let me think about this again.

Yup, still a scumbag.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[bartleby]

This thread illustrates how many viewpoints there are about addiction and the parade of impaired people you see march through an ED on the average day. However, as a physician if you start dehumanizing your patients and reducing them to labels, you are losing something within yourself.

 

[dopaminophile]

Grand Marshal of the Scumbag parade during "Scumbag Days" in the town of Scumbag, West Virginia.

Sigh... poor West Virginians get the crap end of the deal at all official Scumbag events. That's alright... one of these days we'll rise in the ranks to host higher-class fair, like Jerks and Lowlifes.

Seriously though, all of these acts that make one a scumbag arise from desparation and extreme adversity. While we can recognize that addiction in particular is a gripping disease and the addict's actions are the manifestation of that extraordinarily desparate situation, one thing that defines the quality of a person is how he/she acts in times of desparation and adversity. We can feel compassion for an addict's disease but at the same time assert that stealing your grandma's meds makes you a scumbag.

Maybe if you stop stealing from grandma, you no longer are a scumbag, but it's entirely reasonable for the physician of grandma to consider you to be a scumbag when you are actively and purposefully hurting her.

peace

-dope-

 

[deuist]

* Trying to get tenure at Scumbag University.
* See his accomplishments in Indiana's Scumbag Hall of Fame.
* Flying one-way on Sumbag Air.
* Has a bumper sticker that reads, "American by birth; Scumbag by the grace of God."
* Posts on SDN under the name $cumb@g12

(I'm particularly proud about the Scumbag U comment.)

 

[mikecwru]

This thread illustrates how many viewpoints there are about addiction and the parade of impaired people you see march through an ED on the average day. However, as a physician if you start dehumanizing your patients and reducing them to labels, you are losing something within yourself.

All we do all day is label people. This is problematic of medicine, most especially emergency medicine. "The CHFer in 31," etc. I'm sure there's not
many of us saying "Jeanie, the kind hearted woman with crackles and shortness of breath, who's here with her cousin Bob and nephew Jim in 31..."
I mean, come on.

Be careful people, the soap box is starting to creak. I think it's going to break.

mike

 

[Squad51]

as someone who at one point struggled with addiction, i wonder where i would be if people in my life at the time said "scumbag", rather than "person with a problem deserving of compassion."

addicts come in all shapes and sizes. we work in your EDs. we manage your hospitals. its sad -- but some us once did despicable things like steal our grandmother's prescriptions. that's the nature of addiction. not an excuse -- just an explanation.

Fatty Mc"Million little pieces"Fattypants....

 

[trkd]

Fatty Mc"Million little pieces"Fattypants....

 

[racerx]

First author for article in "The Journal of Scumbag Techniques" examining "The Statistical Breakdown of Scumbags that Steal Scripts for Own Use Versus Monetary Gain and the Role of the Novel Gene scuM1 in Chimeric Scumbag Models."

 

[Febrifuge]

All we do all day is label people. This is problematic of medicine, most especially emergency medicine. "The CHFer in 31," etc. I'm sure there's not many of us saying "Jeanie, the kind hearted woman with crackles and shortness of breath, who's here with her cousin Bob and nephew Jim in 31..." I mean, come on.

Excellent point. I once got a verbal smack from a nurse when I excitedly said to another tech, "I heard you guys cracked a chest last night." This normally sweet RN corrected me, saying that it was "HER chest," and implying that calling someone "a chest" was offensive.

Now, I understand the point, but here's a question: which is more disrespectful, depersonalizing a patient to concentrate on a procedure -- or presuming to know something about that person as an individual, with hopes and dreams and people who love them? I guarantee you that if the patient had come in for a UTI, it would have been okay to ask "hey, how did that UTI case turn out?" I understand the need to not be a robotic bastard, but prettying up the language doesn't change the reality.

So I always walk the middle ground now. I say things like, "the young lady with the skanky abscess" or "so, you guys cracked somebody's chest, huh?"

 

[MissMuffet]

Seriously though, all of these acts that make one a scumbag arise from desparation and extreme adversity. While we can recognize that addiction in particular is a gripping disease and the addict's actions are the manifestation of that extraordinarily desparate situation, one thing that defines the quality of a person is how he/she acts in times of desparation and adversity. We can feel compassion for an addict's disease but at the same time assert that stealing your grandma's meds makes you a scumbag.

Maybe if you stop stealing from grandma, you no longer are a scumbag, but it's entirely reasonable for the physician of grandma to consider you to be a scumbag when you are actively and purposefully hurting her.
-dope-

Very well said.