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Is it ethical or fair???I was recently discharged by my doctors office for having an argument with a couple billing clerks on 2 separate occasions, they did get pretty ugly... I received a certified letter in the mail from my doctor saying he was withdrawing from providing me any further medical care...because of inappropriate behavior...I now have no way to refill my pain medication, as I called the doctors office today and advised them I was seeking entrance into a pain management center, but they cant get me in until next month.. So, I asked if they would continue my pain meds until I got into the new facility... They said the doctor refused to call in any more meds and I should go to the ER if need be.. Most of us know that the ER, aside from being painfully expensive, would probably give me an Ibuprofen and send me home, then charge me 2000$ to do so...My question is this, Is it legal or ethical for a physician who has prescribed high doses of percocet, then Lortab, to just cut you off cold turkey??? Please keep in mind, he has run Pharmacy boards on me, which were ALL legitimate. Ive never done any questionable behavior with my pain medicines...I was under the impression that they at least have to give you adequate time to seek health care elsewhere, and his certified letter, read "Upon receipt of this communication" we no longer will be providing you with service...Needless to say, this is disasterous for me, not only because of the significant amount of pain I have, but now I will have to deal with withdrawls as well...Does anyone have a suggestion for me, as to what I can do?? Dr Lois maybe??? ( categories: Discussion of Prescription and OTC Meds )
 I dont think there is any
I dont think there is any "illegal" about cutting you off. Unethical, possibly but your own behavior was probably unethical also. The one thing you could do if you are a legitamite pain patient that has never done anyting wrong with your meds even early refills, you could file a grievance with the state board of medicine (medical license) and the state board of pharmacy (controlled substance license) against the doctor. For something such as unecessary pain and suffering resulting from withdrawals brought on by abrupt discontinuation of legitamately prescribed narcotic medications. If you are out of medications and have been on them for an extended period of time, you could always try and go to the doctors office in person and explain to them that you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms and you need advice as to what to do. Or a referal to a pain management doctor or withdrawal specialist that can see you within a timely manner. Basically
The clerks confronted me in an office full of people about a medical test that was done that wasnt covered by my insurance... I asked them to call me about and told them I didnt want to discuss it anymore and they kept on until I said heres my credit card, dont say another word to me, just run it and shut up...Please keep in mind, there were about 15 people in the waiting room..Just to give you a clearer picture as to what happened...I was demanded to produce a credit card "IF I HAD ANY INTENTIONS OF SEEING MY DOCTOR" according to the billing lady... It was very unprofessional.. (edited)  Go Online
Get all of your records from the Doctor and scan them into .pdf files so you can email them or you can fax hard copies. Go to a place like drugbuyers.com and pick a service / pharmacy that has the meds you want. Apply for a consultation and they will review your records and then fed-ex you a script. strgazr has a point
strgazr has a point. there have been succesful lawsuits filed against medical practitioners that didn't prescribe pain meds to persons in need. but, if a practitioner doesn't want you as patient, that is his/her perogative. sticky situation for sure.  I had a similar situation
I had somewhat similar situation where my doc wouldnt see me till my new insurance was active (cause I didnt have office fees of 160) and i was nearing the end of my script. I went to er, explained to them I was a chronic pain paitent and have been taking opiates for pain for 18 months and my doctor told me to go to er, cause I didnt have the money to see him for a coulpla weeks, they basicaly refilled my script and sent me home. But i was taking a scedIII not scedII and they even offered to give me a shot in my back but I didnt have a ride home so I didnt get that......good luck to you Johnny Thanx guys
Thanx for the different opinions, they have all been useful... I believe the problem lies in the area I live in, West Virginia... We have a lot of issues in this area as far as people abusing their meds and robbing pharmacies, addicts etc.. It is virtually a once a week story on the news.. I believe this has alot to do with it... but what about people like me, that dont? I never had called in early and the worst thing I did was flush my percocets and asked to be put on something weaker because they were making me feel so far out of it...I wouldnt call that addictive behavior..if I were in it for effect, I would have continued to gobble down the 30MGs of percocet I was prescribed...but it seems like when you're honest and open with your doctor "youre an addict", when youre afraid to even say a word to your doctor "youre an addict"... Do I just need some etiquette training or something?? The only thing I know how to be is honest when it comes to this, a. because I dont want to end on something with the potential to kill me and b. I dont want to have to keep track of lies and deceit. Its just easier to be truthful and open but whenever Ive done that in the past, I have been chewed out by my doctor.. He says he has no diagnosis for me, but Ive seen 2 orthopods and two podiatrists, both of which confirm that I have A. Osteoarthritis in my foot and B. I have 2 elongated bones (my third and fourth metatarsals) on my right foot.... These things are causing extreme pain, becuase the bones essentially stab into the soft tissue of my foot, they cause enough pain to where on the bad days I cant even wear a sock and I have to sit with my foot propped up in the air. It cant even touch a pillow... But my doctor says he has no diagnosis... Im purplexed :( An abnormal finding on x-ray
An abnormal finding on x-ray or MRI, does not explain why someone is having pain. Osteoarthritis usually does not require narcotic pain medications. Has anyone offered surgery or injections, or another form of therapy (like a molded orthosis) to treat your symptoms? The regulations probably
The regulations probably vary by state. In my state you must give the patient notice in order for the patient to find another provider, before discharging them from your practice. The rules are probably different if the staff or the physician has been threatened by a patient. I don't know how heated the argument got, but the office staff should be taught how to handle problems in a non-confrontational way and how to diffuse tense situations. Other than reducing your daily dose of medication until you can find another physician and lodging a complaint with the medical board, I can't think of any other good alternatives. It did get heated
But not to the point of any threats.. I called her a female dog, Im guilty of that, and believe me, she earned every letter from the "B" to the "H" but in the same breath I asked her to just take my credit card and not say anything else to me, trying to avoid any more problems, Im sure I coulda handled it better, but everyone has those days, no matter who you are..I even filed a complaint with the Dr.s office manager about it. I figure most people at the doctors office, arent there because they feel good..I guess I just figure he could have at least warned me about it, advised me if I had another incident, I would be done as far as seeing him anymore, and then I would have sat on my hands and just taken the abuse from the billing ladies and this issue coulda been resolved. Instead, I got the certified letter in the mail...Perhaps he just didnt want to deal with my case anymore, because he didnt have any answers? The orthopod I saw gave me an orthotic that just made it 10xz worse than what it was, the bones are shorter, not longer than the other bones, perhaps elongated was the wrong term for me to use. The ortho doctor said that when I walk, it is like the bones were stabbing the soft tissue in my foot and he advised me there are tons of nerves in your foot and not much in the way of muscle etc... so it does make it very uncomfortable... Sometimes the office staff
Sometimes the office staff gets too overprotective of the practice, or looses sight of the big picture. I remember once telling the biller it didn't matter if a certain patient almost never paid their co-pays, it was not worth dischargning them from the practice even though they were a couple thousand dollars in arrears, because they had good insurance otherwise and the insurance company had paid us over ten thousand dollars, versus the two thousand that they owed us for co-pays. It is not really fair to patients that do pay their co-pays like they are supposed to, but to some extent business is business, and we really don't have any way of judging what a patient's real ability to pay is. You are quite right about people going to the doctor not feeling the best, otherwise, why the heck would you be there in the first place? I am really sorry the office person did not handle things differently for you. Even though the office person is the one who should be acting professionally, he or she may have been dealing with more than they could handle that day too. I hope the office manager is able to work with them so patients, like yourself, don't feel mistreated. If you want to stay with that practice, you could always swallow your pride and make a humble apology even if you were not the first one to step over the bounds of good behavior. What is important is that you get what you want and need. No one should ever have to take abuse, and if you did not already feel bad and stressed out, I am sure you could have diffused the situation yourself. One of the things I have found with orthotics is that they can be quite painful to wear at first because the orthotic makes you use muscles in your feet that you have not been using as much. It take several weeks to months before the muscles in your feet and ankles adapt to their new job. |
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