very scary PM appointment

Hi All,

Just thought I'd share my scary experience at my PM's office today. So, there I was in the waiting room, reading something on my phone, and minding my own business. When next thing I know, there is suddenly a guy in the chair across from me (was previously empty), and he is screaming several times at the top of his lungs "I'm going to smash your face in." At first I though he was talking to me. Huh? Then I thought that he was psychotic or something, and talking to himself. Only then did I notice the doc and three staff members standing next to me/across from the guy in the chair, and a guy standing next to him.

It turns out that this guy was the brother of the guy who was standing (the patient), and both the brother and the patient were verbally threatening the doctor (even went as far as death threats). The doctor kept asking them to leave, otherwise he was going to call the police. But the two guys refused to budge. And here I am, literally in the MIDDLE of this fight. Angry patients less than two feet in front of me, and doctor and staff just inches from my chair. I was utterly terrified. There was no way to get out of there, because the guys were blocking the exit, and the doctor was blocking the isle. So I was literally trapped. I was afraid to even look up at them for more than a millisecond, out of fear that the angry patients might see me and it might result in some kind of retaliation for not minding my own business. I mean, I was seriously afraid that one of these guys was going to pull out a gun. And I would have been right in the line of fire!

Finally, after a very tense, heart pounding 5 min, the men finally left (but not before throwing a prescription in the doctor's face, and then snatching it up again "to show their lawyer"). The staff members got their license plate number as they left, and then the doc called the cops. Next thing I know, I see 3 cop cars go speeding down the road after these guys, and two more cop cars show up at the office. And within a few minutes, the office is swarming with cops! Boy! What an ordeal!

Come to find out, these guys just walked in (no appointment, not regular patients), and demanded to see a doctor. It sounds like they were looking for opioids, and when the doctor refused to prescribe them, they got violent. My guess is that the doc ended up writing a script for a couple pills, just to get them out the door (that was the prescription that the patient threw at the doctor, but then took after all), and told them essentially to take it and leave peacefully, otherwise he was calling the police. We all know how well that worked out...

But boy! How scary was that?! Who would have ever thought that something like that would happen at my doc's office, and right in front of me! The doc that these guys saw wasn't even a PM (although my doc is), he was an orthopedist (PM works out of an orthopedist's office, as he is also a physiatrist). Granted, my doctor's office is not in the best town in the area, but it is also far from the worst. Still, never would have thought that something like that would happen here!

I ended up waiting over an hour an a half to see my doc, because all the docs and staff members were busy with the police. But, I think I needed that time just to get my heart rate back down!! And here I was, all excited to go to this appointment, because for ONCE, the new med that my doc started me on, actually seems to be helping with the pain!! I couldn't wait to give him to good news! And then the waiting room incidence... Let's just say that I am very glad that I don't have to go back there for another month!!

I sure do hope that they caught and arrested those guys. If I was shaken up, I can't believe how the doc/staff must have felt. These guys seemed pretty serious about their threats. And I almost thought it was going to come to blows (or worse) right there in the waiting room. It was very scary indeed!

I am so glad that this day is over!!

It's people like this who cause so many other problems for the rest of us -- the legitimate patients...

Skeye

Post Edited (skeye) : 4/8/2015 10:45:40 PM (GMT-6)

I'm glad your safe and okay. Wow, that was very scary for you. You handled it very good and bravely..
Hope you can take it easy tomorrow to recover from this incident...
One time at one of my appointments a gentlmen starts getting cagey because he'd been waiting for over 2 hours for his appointment and he started yelling and was so very angry, that I got scared...these incidents are extremely scarey and you did a good job being still and brave. I also hope this never happens to you again...
Sure hope your writting about it gives you a release..
Many well wishes..

The addicts and diverters are absolutely crazy and I mean they're dangerous crazy! I can just imagine the fear of being unable to move away. My pharmacy had a incident that caused problems for everyone for a month and no one could get narcotics filled there because the pharmacy manager refused to fill a questionable script after Dr office hours for a first time patient who went on to threaten to wait for her to get off and blow her #@*×@&*# head off then get her kids! ! She was promptly moved to another store in another county and this stores (chain ) policy was only the Rph manager was cleared to order narcotics and they had to train a new one at a different store making no orders until then. And no wonder Dr's and rphs look at patients with narcotics scripts in a bad way, they don't ever know who is going to be a legit patient and whose going to go off.

Wow that is scary and you were very wise not to make any eye contact with them because this really might have made them think you were staring at them. That is like our worst fear and we all know it could just as easily turned out badly.

Wow skeye that would be scary I'm glad your alright! Hopefully they caught those guys!

I always remove all the labels on all my empty medicine bottles regardless of what type of medicine was in them! I take the labels and the prescription pharmacy sheets and put them through the paper shredder!

Anyway I'm glad that new pain med is working well for you! and again I'm glad your okay! This might be something to file away in your ""Book of life experiences "" Who knows some day you just might want to put these thing in print! You never know?

I wish you all the best skeye!

White Beard