Medical mistakes are going to kill me...

Hey RJ, haven't seen you much lately and now know why!

I also worked the field 25+ years, I've gotta say they've made great strides in treatment and procedures but somehow dropped a few notches in the overall level of care. Not sure where the glitch is. Could be stringent laws, the types of folks going into the field, or at the educational level. It's a field where you absolutely have to love what you do and take pride in doing it, being in it for the money only fails the system ..

Sorry you've been sick and I've actually did without my methadone one weekend to! Under the new policy Walgreens back in March I believe when they would only fill schedule meds during Dr office hours. My methadone wasn't due until Saturday and I took it in and no fill until Tuesday as it was a long weekend or my Dr was out of town, something. Anyway landed in Er Sunday night due to my b/p from pain and the onset of w/ds. Luckily there was a nice Dr and she actually wrote percocet to get me thru. The entire fiasco cost medicare an ER visit just because of not filling a med in the same amount by same Dr I've been filling there for years?

So yes others tend to have some of the same problems.

Hoping you had some meds put up for a rainy day and that you catch a break and get better soon.

Hi all,

I know what you mean about the mistake issues! My husband's docs have been really hard to deal with in their mistakes they've had - pretty nasty.

I actually work for Walgreens in the pharmacy and see the mistakes that do occasionally come up. Unfortunately with how most insurance companies reimbursing very low levels back to the pharmacies (most brand name medications are paid by insurance back equal or less than what it costs to get the meds plus the cost of materials to fill and get to the patients. That plus the corporate offices deciding to take budget away from stores unless they do more work with less help in ALL the retail pharmacies make it easier to be off-count with meds.

Vickie, the DEA is cracking down nation wide on lots of CII meds and if a certain company has a single issue at one or two stores, they watch them all. 3 Walgreen stores in Florida had an issue with the oxycodone medications 3 years ago and Walgreens was fined a LOT and those stores are very limited on what they can fill now. It's all over Florida, which is where I lived a few years back. Thus, the company is constantly working with the DEA to show we're doing our best to not allow narcotics and other controls get onto the street. One is STRINGENT reviews on certain types of meds, including Methadone. :( Not going into details, but it's possible with certain states that might include having to double check the prescription with the doctor. Also, if the pharmacy doesn't know you, it makes it even more difficult to verify everything before the Rx can be filled.

I know in MI where I am now, there are SOOOO many things that we have to have on there and then check and do before we can fill that as well as a couple other CII pain meds. It's really hard on our patients, but it's the best way to keep the DEA happy when/if they audit. :( Heck, we already were doing a lot of these steps a good portion of the time, but we now have to EVERY time for many of these - and it takes 1-2 hours most of the time to do all of them! *sigh* Day in, day out with this stuff for me right now.

RJ, most doctors will have an emergency number to call after hours, and many states allow currently numbers to be added/changed if the pharmacy talks with the doc as the federal regulations on CIIs right now is vague (they did double-speak and have ruled until it is corrected in the proper channels that state law is what you go by for now instead of federal when it comes to CII info on the script itself and what can be changed). So if you call your doc next time there is a problem, they should be able to call the pharmacy to correct it. Oh - make sure it says "for pain" too. I have a couple pharmacists I've worked with that allow it to go through on occasion without it IF you've been on it for awhile with the correct "for pain" on there, but others don't care how long but it has to be written by the doc and some won't even take it over the phone! Depends on the pharmacist.

Unfortunately I too have recently been though a difficult time d/t a misdiagnosis. Last Spring I was diagnosed as being in Stage III chronic renal failure and of having developed diabetes. Both were a shock. The nurse practioner I was seeing went on to say I had no choice but to start on insulin. All this from one blood test and it took them 8 sticks to get the blood. When I pointed out that I had normal kidney values less then 2 weeks prior she ignored me. Luckily she sent me to a endocrinologist and a nephrologists. The nephrologist after looking at those lab results siad that I was dehydrated when it was drawn and was sure I did not have kidney disease. He said the normal results 11 days prior to abnormal ones proved I did not have a chronic condition. about 15 min after leaving the office I got a call telling me my labs were normal. Much the same at the endocrinologist...did not need insulin, just watching what I ate. I decided not to return to that primary care practioner. I canceled an appt with her and then she called me at home on a Sunday to ask why.
I let my hubby talk to her. This misread costs me and my insurance company thousands of dollars. On top of this were sleepless nights and many tears. I am so thankful that I was only dehydrated from the fasting for the labs.