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Broke My Contract by taking old medicine? please help!

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Posted 3/31/2014 9:11 AM (GMT 0)
Please help me with this situation.

I finally found a PM doctor I felt worked for me. Her approach included not just meds, but also therapy, effective (yet painful) exercises and (when necessary) injections.

I have been seeing her about a year. On my most recent visit (with an on staff nurse), I asked about flare ups i'd been having & told her that I was out of my meds early. She immediately left the room and came back with a urine sample cup.

Yesterday, I received a letter saying that since I had oxycodone in my system and she only prescribes me hydrocodone, I am basically kicked out of the practice. I did take one half of a Percocet I had leftover from an old dentist script for a tooth abscess. I still have a handful left and I only take them when my pain is really bad. This time I took the half bc I was out.

I didn't tell my dr bc they only ask if you have been prescribed anything by other doctors while in their care or in between visits. I dont see any other doctors and the one ER visit I have had since seeing her, I refused all pain meds and didn't even fill my scripts to fear of breaking my contract (they ask about er visits and that IS mentioned in the contract).

I am disheartened bc I really wish to keep her as my doctor and I had no idea I was violating the contract by taking my old medicine.

I feel like I was punished for telling the truth about running out once. I had one other urine test since seeing her and obviously had no problems.

Any advice on how to approach this would be greatly appreciated. Is there any way to stay under her care or is it a wrap once you receive a letter like that?
Posted 3/31/2014 10:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Leah and welcome to HW and the chronic pain forum. Unfortunately I dont know anyone who's violated a contract and had the practice withdraw the discharge. Also you may find it nearly impossible to get a new Dr,these records will follow you into any new Drs you see and with the tighter laws they are likely not to take you on. They will see you solely as a risk factor for several reasons.

Its a violation to take more then prescribed, to run out early,to take any other opiate regardless of where you got it without first obtaining permission from your prescribing dr. Too many violations. They expect you to read the contract you are given and to understand it. Most ask if you do prior to signing it.

Your not being punished for telling the truth Leah your being punished for being in violation of your contract. Whether its a half of a Percocet or hand full,whether you ran out early due to an increased pain week or because you sold them,they have no way of knowing.

They are responsible to the law,FDA, and the community to insure the meds the issue don't wind up on the street or cause harm and rules are the only way they have to do that.

You could find yourself up that proverbial creek without paddle or pain management.

Sorry I have no better answers or advice.
Posted 3/31/2014 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
This is the exact agreement I signed. (Below) Nowhere on here does it mention taking past medications or saying I must tell them. We never went over the contract, I basically signed it over a year ago and never saw it again until I received the letter and looks it up on their website. I certainly wasn't aware that i would be kicked out for taking medicine that was prescribed for me prior to seeing her.

Also, it mentions I should stop taking any meds SLOWLY and the letter says basically the meds I got last month are it. Should i not talk to them about concerns on that front?

Based on the actual agreement, doss it seem to anyone that explaining what happened would help?

Also, the letter said she would no longer prescribe, does it seem possible to keep her as my dr for the other courses of treatment?

I would hate to lose her as she is the only dr that has seemed to know what it going on with me.

_______________________________

PAIN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT

 

Opioids and controlled substances may be used to treat chronic pain. THEY ARE STRICTLY REGULATED BY STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES.

 

I ________________________________________ accept the following:

 

I am reading and making this agreement while in full possession of my faculties.

I have been informed of the risks and benefits of the use of controlled substances, including the risk of tolerance and drug dependency.

When I need to stop taking the medication, I must do so slowly and under medical supervision or I may have withdrawal symptoms.

I agree not to share, sell or otherwise permit others, including my family and friends, to have access to these medications.

If my prescription is lost, misplaced or stolen, or if I "run out early", I understand that it will not be replaced.

I give my permission to discuss all diagnostic and treatment details with dispensing pharmacies or other professionals who provide my health care for purposes of maintaining accountability.

I understand that it may be dangerous for me to operate an automobile or other machinery while using any medications and I may be impaired during all activities, including work.

(FOR FEMALES) I also understand that if I become pregnant, or I suspect I am pregnant, I will notify the staff of the office. I accept that any medication may cause harm to embryo/fetus/baby and hold the clinic and all staff harmless for injuries to the embryo/fetus/baby.

I accept that random drug testing may be done at the discretion of DR.

I may be discharged, in accordance with practice standards, from treatment at any time, per physician discretion.

I will not receive controlled substances or medication (i.e: narcotics, muscle relaxers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety, and/or antidepressants) that may be prescribed at DR from any other physician/clinic/hospital/emergency room.  And if doing so due to a medical emergency, I will notify DR immediately.

I will be seen within a 30 day cycle to acquire any medication refills.  It is my responsibility to schedule my appointment prior to needing my medications refilled.  I understand partial refills will no longer be supplied.
Posted 3/31/2014 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
Logically, your whole argument is a red herring. I am sorry, but it is. It doesn't matter that you got them before you signed the current contract.

This part of their contract says it all.

"I may be discharged, in accordance with practice standards, from treatment at any time, per physician discretion."
Posted 3/31/2014 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
Receive also means take. This states that you may go into withdraws if your meds are suddenly stopped. I says nothing about the dr having to rx your meds until you decrease the dosage or find another dr. I don't believe this dr will treat you period. No one has to go over this with you. The fact that you sign it says you understand it completely and agree to it. Finding another pain dr will be next to impossible. I don't believe you can even get an appt with this dr now.
Posted 3/31/2014 4:43 PM (GMT 0)
Wow I am sorry that you are going through this! I think its going to be hard on your for a while and we are here to help you as much as we can.
I can see how it would be confusing and I understand how it can be hard dealing with flares and needing more meds can be.
Did you get a chance to explain all of that to your doctor? Is there any other doctor there in the office that will see you? Have you had any other problems with your doctor?

Do you have any meds left at all? When was your last med taken?
Posted 3/31/2014 4:59 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like a bad situation to be in.  I had this happen when I first started having major issues (muscle spasms in lower back).  I had some pain killers that my family doctor had prescribed and went to see a "back" doctor, I believe he was orthopedic surgeon.  He gave me a prescription and sent me to physical therapy.  I was in so much pain at the time that all I could do at PT was get a massage and TENS unit treatment.  The prescription he had given was very weak at 5/325 Hydrocodone and 2 mg Tizanidine, half of what my family dr had given.  I was having to take 2-3 of each pill to even get up and get around my house.  I was wearing two back braces and using crutches to get around.  When I went through it so quick and went back to him after one week of PT and told him the prescription was too weak, he told me he couldn't give me anything stronger and I needed to see a PM doctor.  He gave me only 15 more of each pill that was supposed to last me a week before I could see the PM doctor.  Needless to say I busted through those 15 pills in short order and spent the rest of the time taking gobs of OTC Ibuprofen and Tylenol, laying around in bed alternating hot/cold pads on my back.
Luckily the new PM doctor I went to recognized my pain and immediately scheduled me for a cortisone injection which immediately stopped the muscle spasms.  Since I've been with this doctor (4 years now), the only additional meds I have taken was to add a little OTC Ibuprofen to what I'm taking that he prescribes.  I've stuck to the dosage he gave plus those and he has had no problem with it.  I do have to take a urine test every 90 days when I go in for refills and they've never mentioned the Ibuprofen.  I haven't taken anything else that he didn't prescribe besides that.
Posted 3/31/2014 11:05 PM (GMT 0)
I'm new here, and quite interested in the problem of contractual medicine. I've been totally disabled for going on ten years now I have severe nerve damage caused during a spinal surgery.
I spent the first three and a half years with numerous neurologists, as well as my PCP, attempting to zero in on the damaged area to no avail. The prognosis, "incurable" I am a somewhat retired trucker who went back to school and became a Robotics technician up until my illness.
My pain started small, over a period of six months the pain got worse. I was finally diagnosed by two neurologists in Boston with an Idiopathic Perifial Neuropathy. My final day at work was during a heavy snow storm here in Maine, I fell off a portable stair case. They sent me to the doctor who determined I was also losing sensory feeling in both legs. Fast forward eight years, and here I am. I have no sensory feeling in either leg or foot, pain that just won't quit and other maladies such as blood pressure and gastric problems thrown in for good measure. Over the past seven years or so, I've been taking Hydrocodone and from time to time Oxicodone. For about five years they had me on Clorazapam. I have never taken medications any different than prescribed, I'm actually afraid of medications, it's just that if I skip the three pain meds I'm taking now, within 24 hours I will be paralyzed in both legs.
Good doctors never seem to stick around crappy ones are a dime a dozen. about a year ago I was introduced to my first so called "Contract". First of all, this is no contract. A contract is a signed agreement between two parties. These things are more like court orders. I have a friend on probation who has less restrictions then this order they had me sign.
Now reading this thread I sympathize with the person who is victim of one of these so called contracts. All I can think of is what happens if I were to lose my medication. I'm just wondering, when exactly did I lose control of my life? I spent years avoiding speed traps and weigh stations driving truck, I spent twenty five years taking random drug tests. I never failed one. Now This is what I'm up against?
When did they make being sick a criminal offense? I will say this though. I'm not going to let these idiotic infractions on my right to be sick just pass.
I am presently doing research, that's what bought me here. I'm going to go through every detail I can find. If someone ever accuses me of diverting medications or any other such garbage, I'm not going down with out a fight. I for one won't let this happen to me..........
Posted 3/31/2014 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
Leah,

What this all boils down to is this: When your pain was beginning to flare up and not be managed with the meds you were prescribed, the correct action is to first contact your prescribing doctor, and tell them. Make an appointment, and at that point, it's in your record that you've reported increased pain, and it's up to the individual doctor's discretion on how to proceed re: meds, etc.

By taking matters into your own hands and self-medicating, it's a blatant breach of the contract you signed.





M.
Posted 4/1/2014 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
This is a hard one, First I'm sorry your in this situation and second you should've been upfront with your doctor.
I specifically asked my doctor in writing for permission for medication for emergency Dental treatments as a sort of just in case and I gave my dentist names to my pm doctor as well....
So my Pm doctor knows pretty much everything.
Hope you can find a new pm doctor and if you do not know what they want or mean in those contracts, ask.
I keep a list of medications I take and ones I'm allergic to with me to every visit.
Many well wishes to you and I'm sorry this happened to you.
Posted 4/1/2014 6:24 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone heard of any attempts to fight the legality of this form of medical care? Has anyone ever said this is enough, I'm not going to be held hostage with my own need for pain medications.
When I first started taking pain meds, I don't remember there being this much of a problem with doctor patient relationships. I know that I went to a couple pain clinics in Boston and Maine, but was only able to come out of them with some good mind games to try and reduce the pain. I never had any trouble receiving or changing medications. I would like to know how this all changed, in such relatively short period of time. It would seem that in their overzealous attempt to reduce the accidental overdoses due to opioid abuse by addicts, they basically put my law abiding personal well being in severe jeopardy. I understand the need for caution and in some cases severe restrictions on prescriptions. Unfortunately in the process they have turned many innocent people into criminal offenders such as Leah. Has she done anything to warrant what is being treated as a criminal offence? These medical professionals are treating legitimately ill patients like "Lepers" of times gone by. When are they going to start rounding all us legitimate pain patients up and putting us into "Pain Camps"? I'm not joking, from what I've experienced I feel as though "internment" is a very real possibility. I would like to hear from any legitimate legal attempts at changing this incredibly archaic treatment of law abiding citizens. I feel the target of these infringements should be the dealers and addicts who are illegaly aquiring these medications. Not genuine certified law abiding pain patients.................
Posted 4/1/2014 6:43 PM (GMT 0)
These contracts aren't legally binding. If a person doesn't want to agree to the conditions of the contract they don't have to sign it. If they don't want to go by the conditions they agreed to in order for the dr to go by the conditions they agreed to in the contract, the patient breaks it and is dismissed.

I have no problem signing a Pain Contract and I don't know of anyone here that does. When you think about it, the Pain Contract is the same thing as common sense, it is just put into a different context.
Posted 4/1/2014 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
I do not see any hostage taking. I see a contract that states "You get appropriate medication. You get it from me and only me. If you take anything that does not go through my office, I no longer wish to work with you."

I guess I do not see your line of logic, Electrify.

Leah is not a criminal. Leah made a mistake, that unfortunately will likely cost her a doctor. But that is it. When you overstate a case, you make it implausible.

The reason pain contracts exist is to protect you and your doctor, and to limit access to illegal use.
Posted 4/1/2014 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
I do not wish to argue, but I do have one question. Who is protecting who? Who do I need protection from? Why should my doctor need protection.
I have heard of people who have been literally blackballed. In my case not being able to travel and eliminated from seeing any doctors in my area, that would put me in a potentially dangerous bind. This is all a step, a huge step backward. I have already lost my career, I now live on Social Security. I was only 44 when I got sick, so I'm going to be dealing with these strong arm tactics intended to restrict my freedom to be treated by the doctor of my choice in a manner that I see fit.
What is Leah going to do now? Yes she made a mistake, You show me one person with excruciating chronic pain, who hasn't had to take medications as needed,
I think that what I'm trying to express, and not very well I might add, is The powers that be, local and state governments federal law enforcement, federal legislatures responding to a very disturbing trend. As is usually the case with politicians, these knee jerk remedies to serious concerns are harming the wrong people. The criminals are still flourishing. There is no shortage of street pills out there. Yet if I take one pill out of sequence or some other stupid requirement, I get punished. Ya I'm being protected.
I'm sorry if I have wasted your time, and thank you for allowing me to make my stand. This is the first time I have come across anyone who agrees with this insane form of medicine. The law should be locking up the criminals not counting my pills. I'm no longer going to post here, I'm afraid you people don't seem to mind this persecution......................................................................
Posted 4/1/2014 8:38 PM (GMT 0)
Who is protecting who?
I am being protected from pain. The doctor is being protected from being used for his/her prescription capabilities.

Who do I need protection from?
You need protection from undue pain.

Why should my doctor need protection.
So he/she will not be sued should the medication fall into the wrong hands.

Okay, I'll bite. The doctors developed these contracts as a way to protect themselves from prosecution and to ensure that legitimate pain patients have their needs met medically. As far as I know, these pain contracts were developed by doctors to protect both their patients and themselves from illegal activity. It's unfortunate they have to do this, I agree. There is not a good way out of the gordian knot caused by the fact that our pain meds are used by others to get high and/or make money. I wish it were different.

It is unfortunate that people with genuine pain get caught up into the whirlpool. BUT if you sign something, you need to understand it! Bottom line, I am not going to risk my doctor dismissing me because I got meds from another source, which is dishonest and gives the doctor due reason to distrust his/her patient. Doctors do want to help us, not harm us or screw us over. Yes, people with chronic pain needs their medications as needed to function. Was a phone call out of line in a business relationship?

But, persecution? That's a big word, and I do think you are using it out of context. If you want to talk about state legislatures getting involved, I still think the word is being misused. As of right now, being in pain is still legal and getting proper medication is still legal. The illegal use of meds has caused legitimate pain users to be looked at with suspicion by some, true. But until the drugs are outlawed, and/or pain patients lose their rights to receive medical care, then I do think you are overstating the case.
Posted 4/1/2014 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
I think most people do not have an issue with pain contracts. You are not legally held accountable for anything, it is just an agreement that if you are going to get pain meds from Doctor A, you will only get pain meds from Doctor A and not anyone else. I have only had 1 pain contract. My current meds come from my surgeons team, I follow a practice that would make it seem like I have a contract. I am very aware of my situation, I only take what is prescribed to me and in that time frame. I only go to the same pharmacy, except for a small period when my pharmacy did not have the script I was trying to fill. I also do not see anyone else about my pain. I had an absecess and my doctor wanted to prescribe me pain meds for it so I did not run through my BT meds. Instead I contact my doctor who I saw about my back, he had the doctor fax him the notes of diagnosis and he went ahead and gave me extra meds so I would not run out.

I think you if you work with your doctor instead of thinking they are working against you, then you will find that getting what you need to be comfortable is not that hard. I always am honest about my situation and let the rest of it work itself out.
Posted 4/1/2014 10:32 PM (GMT 0)
….get a list of Dr's that your insurance approves of, and get on the phone and start calling now. Do not wait for wishful thinking on this issue. They will not take you back.

I dont totally blame you, even though you did violate the contract, because it seems that you were possibly under medicated. Regardless, start your search now. I have seen many cases, one being local that were discharged, and found another compassionate Dr. Even though it may be tough to find one, you have nothing to loose.

Good luck,

SE
Posted 4/3/2014 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
Electric you have brought up some good points. My issue with the contract is that almost if not all of the contract benefits the doctor. One example, people have been around here long enough to know that in some cases, urine samples come up with a false positive. Because docs can "fire" you on cause, how are you supposed to defend yourself? Once let go, most docs will not speak with you again. You can't make an appointment, nothing. How is that fair?

The hoops we now have to jump through because of addicts and diverters is beyond unfair. It's time that some of our rights are put out there!
Posted 4/3/2014 1:14 AM (GMT 0)
Contracts for pain medications are completely one sided. they also would not be upheld in court. A contract is defined as a signed agreement between two parties. These pain contracts are usually offered in return for being allowed pain medication. In cases like mine, I would sign over my first born , just to reduce the pain. That results in this contract being signed under "duress". A doctor can't offer something in return for signing this so called contract.
After eight years of following the rules and actively being part of my treatment team. That team consists of myself and my primary care physician, with no contract. We always were able to discuss the possibilities, consider the options and plan for something unexpected like a particular medication not being effective or making me sick.
This is how proper medical experience is supposed to be. I guess I took that for granted, because that all changed with the introduction of the contract, almost before I even knew my new doctors name. Since that time, my medical treatment has been awful, totally impersonal, and in my opinion unproductive. Treating pain is tricky, there is no clear cut answer. many times it's trial and error, it seems every time I change to a new medication it takes some experimenting before we get it right. I don't consider a fair trial period thirty days.
Bottom line, I'm sick of this whole experience. I'm going this Friday to confront the management of the facility and try and work something out, They know me, I fired one new doctor recently. If I'm paying for a service I'm going to have a say in what is put in my body. If I can't reach a satisfactory conclusion to my complaints, I will be filing a suit in Court.
Maybe I'm living in a different era, I don't take kindly to being treated like a number at a cattle auction. I already lost most everything I worked for when I became disabled, I'm not letting anything else get away.............
Posted 4/3/2014 4:35 AM (GMT 0)
Out of curiosity what type of suit do you plan on filing in court ? It can't be malpractice because a dr is not legally obligated to treat your pain. And he has every right to protect himself and his business. As a matter of fact, the law suits from the families of addicts who have overdosed are one of the reasons we have to jump through so many hoops.

You have one things correct. We are no longer living in the era of being able to have our pain treated without accepting and being held to certain responsibilities. Those days are gone and will never return. Before it was only the drs that lost if the patients weren't responsible, now it has shifted to where it is the patients that usually lose if they aren't responsible.
Posted 4/3/2014 5:35 AM (GMT 0)
Elliot Leah,
Hello all on pain contracts,

It is unfortunate that the medical profession has had to be strictly regulated by the government.
The situation u described is exactly what many have done over the years if in-between pain med scripts.
This is a sore subject with me. I too had a incident & I signed a pain contract as well.
I was to report in monthly for check ups to pick up pain scripts. What a pain when u can hardy move and no one to help.
I was at my surgeons office and ran out of pain meds he wrote me a script and I told him I have a pain contract & I was scheduled to see the Pain doc the next day. 3 pills to get me thru the night and to the dr appt. He gave me a script for three oxycotin. As soon as it was filled the wheels were greased via computer system and my pain doc actually called my surgeon a yelled at my surgeon for 3 pills for oxy. And I was listed as a pain pill seeker. Just a few months prior my PC had prescribed a open script for Percocet for yearly check ups. I would refill 30 pills in 3-4 months. This was a doc who knew me for years and trusted me & I vice versa. He retired just as the pain clinics started.
To make a long story short I was denied pain meds & legally my surgeon could not write me a script. I still don't know why... I had a 3 month wait for surgery and no pain meds. I spent 3 months in a wheel chair in excruciating bone on bone pain waiting for hip joint replacement.

Still after 2 yrs since the surgery have oxy meds left from surgery.

Then to add insult to injury the manufacturer that made the implant had been recalled 8 months after my surgery, due to major health issues. So here we go again.
Pain meds please.... Now a revision is down the road. Trade in the 2 yr old model for a bulkier model. Yeah Ok ... Now just break the femur bone in order to retrieve the stem from the bone as well as shaving down the ball joint area.

Just another hurdle to figure out. Finally the manufacture has paid for 2 years of expensive & painful tests.
One day at a time.

}{{HELLO :Electrify you are a blessing. Thanks for UR info.}}}

So sorry this mess has its complications for u who have similar pain med issues.
As if living in constant pain is not enough we are put in unwanted position of the emotional stress already at a high.

{{{ Mercy&Grace u are absolutely right on u post. Now we can move foreword find positive support for the addicted . Once the brain is trained by the drug to crave the drug only, life as a addict is not what anyone chooses. Many deaths overdose etc.This is the moral issue for there are so many sides to pain and use of pain meds. Even after surgery I had to go in for blood tests & urine tests, during recovery. One red flag over 3 pills has labeled me in the computer system from...!}}}

We are now treated as addicts in a way.. Laws are designed to protect doctors & patients ...

I never give up a good challenge. As long as there is breath there is hope. Life is a gift. Blessings to all !

yeah turn
Posted 4/3/2014 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
There are no Laws/Regulations to prevent a dr from rxing pain meds when a Pain Contract has been broken. Patients are told this, but it isn't true. It is up to the individual dr. If anyone can find where there are Laws/Regulations on the books preventing a dr from doing this, please post the link to the Law/Reg.

If someone is dismissed from Pain Management, it is important that they get a copy of their medical records to see exactly what is written in them, especially regarding the dismissal. Any new dr that you see will get a copy of these medical records and it is important that you know what they are reading about your dismissal. Unfortunately what we are told and what is written in our medical records isn't always the same thing.
Posted 4/3/2014 8:14 PM (GMT 0)
M&G, As for your theories on contracts you are correct. Those contracts are unenforceable in a court of law. A contract signed under duress is unable to be enforced. If you refuse to sign a contract, I'm not to sure yet what the legal guidelines are for receiving treatment. I don't know if a doctor has the right to refuse treatment under those circumstances.
If a doctor or anyone else for that matter, uses threats of harm in exchange for a signature on a contract, it's a non enforceable contract. Given my own situation, telling me he or she is refusing to supply my medication anymore unless you sign a contract, is a known threat of harm to me. This doctor knows what I will endure as a result of a cold turkey stop. As we all know, seizures severe convulsions and possibly death could result. All this because the DEA is holding the medical profession hostage.
This whole threat is a direct result of DEA not being able to stop drug overdoses caused by prescription medications, any other way. In order to save face they turned to a much more likely source of pain medications.Unfortunately for every pain patient out there, Doctors are easy targets. I'm not saying that in any derogatory way toward doctors, it's just much less likely a doctor will risk being investigated. This ass backward approach to law enforcement has been going on for quit a while. Of all the changes the government were hoping for, nothing seems to be more evident to me than the only group not being negatively affected by this failed effort, are the drug dealers.
On the bright side, this is going to sound strange it's even hard for me to say but, Heroin has come to our rescue, sort of. Evidently those bent on getting high from prescription pain pills, at least in my neck of the woods, have come to realize that heroin will give them the same high, it's a lot cheaper and much more abundant.
Now I'm not trying to promote any illegal drug, but it seems to have taken a little bit of pressure off of our pain treatments. With a little luck, our medical professionals will soon be allowed to practice medicine without someone breathing down their backs. We can only hope.......................
Posted 4/4/2014 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
MG &Elec,
Many others have unfortunately been caught in the Crossfires of a system designed to weed out abusers of pain meds.

The system is place as I see it thru new computer programs linking the doctors who write the pain scripts thru the network of pharmacies.
I get it. Unfortunately these new programs written to keep track of drs and pharmacies as well as patients neglect to include the the patients
medical records.

In some cases across the nation pharmacies are out of pain meds to fill scripts, siting they have gone thru their allotment for the month.
Or by flat out refusing to fill the script having no idea what the patients health issue is. Leaving the only option to find a pharmacy that is not tied to the restrictions of the corporate pharmacies .

Many doctor practices today are not in single private practice. Rather big corporations & big pharma & in order to protect the many 100's of practices under the umbrella of these groups ie:Kaiser , BCBS, STATE coverage etc.
these groups all have protocols in place that must be followed. Usually a contract is signed to protect the whole group from 1 law suit, code of conduct rules & regulations. Most reasons for canceling a patient from a practice due 2 any oversight by the patient is usually the policy of the group... period. Once the contract is signed that is all there is to protecting the group. That leaves the question who is protecting the patient? Where are the patient advocates for those of us in chronic pain with the diagnosis on recorded.

There is nothing more humiliating than being escorted thru the halls & out of the doctors office thru the back door. Then UR left thinking now what? Where do we turn? Who will help us now that we are labeled, "Pain Med Seekers" unjustly !
.
Maybe we should have access to our records on disc, to carry the info with us.
Of course will it really make a difference? Suspicions follow..... How long does it stick? Now we are a risk to the group as a whole. Is this possibly a over reaction?

My old doc of 20 years not in group practice would protect me as he always looked out for my best interest. He was eventually forced out of practice & retired. He was a community leader.
The big groups forced his hand & he left his practice he spent his whole life building.

I have read that the ma & pa pharmacies still operate under the law and never refuse meds. I get a print out from my pharmacy each year.
There is my proof .... Is it enough? See any abuse in my 25 year record except a oversight a few years ago.( 3 pills for one day from my surgeon, REALLY..) that was it. That was their policy. Not how many pills or how excruciating the pain. The med records, x-ray,cat scans were all in their hands years of records. So with no warning...It's like we are labeled the fallen, put on parole with no perole officer to assit. Yikes....

I am sorry to hear of the difficulties express here. I appreciate all the insight expressed with thought, experience & advice, time & good suggestions. This discussion has given us all an outlet to express the many complicated experiences we have found ourselves swimming in the muddied waters of frustration & labels and pain. Maybe there is a way to find a solution for many of us who have suffered the embarrassment & consequences of refusal of pain meds thru innocent actions. It's forums like this where open discussions can light the path for better health care for better understanding down the road.
Thank you all for UR understanding.
(( hugs, peace & healing) turn
Posted 4/4/2014 10:27 AM (GMT 0)
Choti you are correct, however, if it were just humiliation at risk here, I wouldn't have a problem. You mention that you wished you could have copies of your medical records. I'm not sure to what degree you would want to cover, but keep in mind, those records are your property, you paid for them . All I had to do is ask, and I received over 400 pages of everything from prescription records and office notes.
As for being shut off cold turkey. If my doctor were to shut off my medications today, I would just have to go to the ER, because thats where I'll be in 24 to 36 hours. My spinal cord nerve damage is such that within 24 hours of no pain meds, the pain becomes unbearable and slowly my legs will become paralized from my feet up. They said it has something to do with the nerves all fired up with nowhere for the impulses to go. Very confusing to the likes of me. It did happen to me once three years ago. I was having a bad time coming off a medication, it made me so sick I couldn't eat anything including my pain meds. I wound up in the hospital ,so they could give me my meds intraveinously. So you see this isn't just a passing whimsy of mine, I'm scared to death. I shouldn't have to be, I have always observed the rules as well as anyone else, but hearing some of these horror stories gives me a lot of incentive to educate myself. To that end, I've become a sort of legal junkie. The one thing lawyer friends of mine have said over and over again. It doesn't matter if it's a single doctors office or a hospital full of doctors. A contract signed under duress is for the most part unenforceable. And I have yet to see many people sign a contract with nothing more than losing their pain meds as incentive. That is duress as far as I can tell..............
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