Among Friends

[x Hedge]

@BunSnoop please take a deep breath and stop crying!

Your anxiety effects your husband's breathing.

Yes, they play this game with my chemo every now & then when I'm out of refills.

Eventually the pharmacy tells me I should try requesting my refill from the doctor. But his staff keep reassuring me they have the request from the pharmacy and Dr reviews all the pharmacy requests daily.

My chemo is a specialty drug, rarely prescribed, and pharmacies don't keep it "on hand". Once they do get the order they have to request it be shipped to them, delaying me by another day or two.

Does your husband have an upcoming appointment?

My chemo was delayed like this when someone erroneously put a note on my chart saying Dr would determine whether to refill this med after my next office visit. So while they had the request from the pharmacy, it hadn't been passed along.

Do you use more than one pharmacy?

One time Drs staff sent the refill order to the wrong pharmacy. My chemo sat there for days and his office staff had no clue as to what they'd done.

Because of my experiences I want my refills a week in advance, to allow for delays. Nope.

[ScrapHappy]

I'm a nurse (well, SAHM now) but worked for a group of doctors in my last position.  Anyway, on occassion I would work triage and answer the phones with patient questions/refill requests.  The doctors I worked for were always willing to refill a Rx as long as the patient was seens recently (usually 6 months to a year).  If not, then the patient had to make an appointment but the doctor would usually give enough meds to hold over till appointment (no waiting several months).  If the prescribing doctor was not available (vacation, etc) then I would ask one of the other docs and if the above applied, they were willing to refill.  Does this doctor work by himself?  If not, can some other doc in the group refill the Rx?  Another option is to go to an urgent care, bring in your original Rx (or copy/get from pharmacist) and tell them what's going on.  I'd call ahead and ask if that's something they'd be willilng to do because all of them don't.  If that doctor is on vacation, someone is covering for him.  Whether it's another doctor in that group, or someone else.

[VaBelle35]

I'm sorry you are dealing with this.

I have had staff tell me to go to the ER, too.  

[AuntG]

Even though I say this is unbelievable, I believe you.  It's awful.

[SeaMaiden]

@BunSnoopI think you need to find a new clinic and new doctor if it is possible......like tomorrow....

[Kachina624]

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@Nataliesgramma wrote:

 I feel bad for you and I would be finding a new Dr after I got the prescription. Does he have a Specialist that he sees? Maybe telling them your story might help.

My insurance would not cover a trip like this to the ER because of a precription that wasn't filled. It would be denied and I would be fighting THEM next.

Hope it works out for you....

@Nataliesgramma  She wouldn't be going to get a prescription.  The reason would be her husband can't breathe.  That's as good a reason as they'll ever hear

[Moonchilde]

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@VaBelle35 wrote:

I'm sorry you are dealing with this.

I have had staff tell me to go to the ER, too.  

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And typically, if a doctor's staff tells you this, the problem is the doctor, personally. Staff can only do so much. I experienced this as both"staff" and as a patient. Staff can tell them and tell them, but if the doctor just doesn't do what is asked, and gives the staff no message to give the patient...the staff often gets the blame.

Something similar happened in my family. A relative, who is known to have asthma and COPD, had a very bad cold/bronchitis. His doctor "couldn't get him in" for a MONTH. He ended up going to Urgent Care to get meds. Within a month he went to the ER for a different issue - and because of the perseverance of an excellent ER doc, lung cancer was discovered - which his doctor never had a clue about of course. With his lung history, she hadn't ordered a chest x-ray for 7-8 years. Who knows how long that cancer was growing. 

He now has an entirely new team of docs and is (knock wood) cancer free.

Publicize it as much as possible. Do it on Yelp. If the office has a FB page do it there. Do it on every appropriate health website you can. Try Healthgrades dotcom, that's the biggie.

[loveschocolate]

@BunSnoop, have you asked your pharmacist if they can give you a couple days supply until the doctor's office calls in the prescription??? Sometimes they will do that if you go to the same pharmacy day in and day out as they know your prescription history. It's worth a try. 

[Tyak]

If it were me, I'd be looking for a new doctor!

[happycat]

I'd look for a new doctor.

Who is over the drs in your state? Here we have a medical review board. I'd be looking into who I could file a complaint with. It sounds like your husband has a serious health issue, that for some reason is not being taken seriously. No excuse in this treatment.