I am going to scream!! Rich has slipped disks in his back they told him the only thing that will fix it is surgery. Well he said he@@ no!! So he is on meds. He only has to take a pain pill once in a while a script of 45 last a couple of months which is good.

Well since December our Dr left and a new one came in so he had to go in Jan. to meet this guy in order for him to write a script. Well now this guy left and he has to go in again for a new Dr to meet him to write a script.

Our insurance sucks so we are paying out our butt for him to go when the new Dr could just read the DA@@ chart to see why he is coming in and write the script.

Man anything for them to make a buck you know. They should see 45 pills lasted him 75 days that is a pretty long while.

By Karen~moderator on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 11:29 am:

Tonya, in doctors' defense, Rx pain meds are controlled substances. Doctors can lose their licenses for writing prescriptions for those *without documented medical need for them*. It is the responsible thing for this doctor to do to protect his medical license. Any good, legitimate doctor would do the same - in fact, I don't know of a doctor who WOULDN'T see the patient for the purpose of writing a prescription, particularly a patient he's never seen before. Even though Rich has medical documentation in his file, the doctor is only doing his job.

Why is Rich so opposed to having surgery? Obviously, every case of herniated disks is not a *surgically necessary* situation. But depending on the severity of the herniation, and if there are ruptures with free floating pieces, the location and number of herniations, surgery just *might* be the fix.

Please don't think I am *siding against you* - I'm not. But I have a long history of back problems, previous back surgeries, and now a whole slew of disk and spine issues. I see a pain management doctor every 8 weeks - mainly just for him to write my prescriptions. Doctors cannot just hand out those types of drugs, even if one Rx lasts the patient a few months. That's how all these docs and pain management clinics got their bad reputations and were shut down.

So, while I understand your frustration at having to spend the money, the doctor is doing what is necessary to protect himself and his medical practice too.

Hope things improve!

By Dawnk777 on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 12:02 pm:

Ditto what Karen said. The doctor has to cover his butt!

By Claire on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 03:01 pm:

Ditto Karen.

By Enchens on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 04:09 pm:

Karen is right. Doctors have to be responsible and careful. It's not only a matter of covering his butt, however. I have recently heard of a case where a doctor had prescribed controlled meds to a patient. The patient was referred to someone else. This someone else didn't check with the previous doc or check the chart and prescribed the standard amount of meds. Which would have been fine, except that the previous doc had also prescribed the standard amount of meds. This wasn't discovered until both docs talked a few days later. Results were not very good for the patient.

So, the doc has to protect him/herself, as well as the patient.

By Shann on Friday, April 28, 2006 - 07:03 pm:

Tonya my husband is currently going through the same thing. He has a heniated disk that is causing alot of pain not only in his back but down his leg and ankle. He was suppose to go today for a follow up but it was cancealed. He is looking forward to surgery he is in so much pain now that he can't stand it. THe Dr. Told dh that he was a young guy who was to young to have back problems also that he had alot of years left in him so he wants those years to be almost pain free. Your husband might want to think if the pain is bad could he live with it the rest of his life. I know men are pains when it comes to Dr. and surgery but I am so shocked my Dh is going. ON the meds question Dr.s now days are really carefull when perscribing meds. Dh needs a refill on his today because it will be another 2 weeks before he can get it. He has to go pick up the perscription because they cant call narcodics in over the phone.
I do hope you dh feels better.

By Karen~moderator on Saturday, April 29, 2006 - 11:26 am:

Enchens, that is also typical drug-seeking behavior - for a patient to see more than one doctor for controlled drugs, as I am sure you know. Which is just another reason doctors have to be careful when prescribing those meds. And I will repeat - no doctor will automatically write a prescription for controlled drugs without actually seeing a new patient for the first time, no matter what is in the chart.

By Kittycat_26 on Monday, May 1, 2006 - 07:57 am:

I'm sorry that it's going to cost you so much to see this new doctor but I have to agree with Karen on this one. Doctors need to be responsible for the prescriptions they right.

You and your DH are honest but many many others are not and unfortunately honest people are often inconvenienced for the actions of the dishonest.

By Tonya on Monday, May 1, 2006 - 09:22 am:

I understand what all of you ladies are saying and if he was jumping offices I could see it but these Dr's are all in the same office and the only reason he is switching is because the other DR's keep leaving the office and bringing new ones in.

He went in Friday afternoon to see this lady and she was in the room with him for a total of 2 minutes to say hi and ask what was wrong and then wrote the DA@@ scripts. That is what makes me angry this office sucks but because our insurance sucks even more we cannot go anywhere else. We have to stay here. Or drive 90 minutes to get to another office that takes our insurnace.

Thanks for letting me vent ladies I appreaciate it.

By Dawnk777 on Monday, May 1, 2006 - 09:43 am:

She still is a new doctor, to your hubby, though.

By Tonya on Monday, May 1, 2006 - 09:55 am:

She is new to him but she never even checked him over just asked 1 question and was done. If she has to see him she should have at least looked at him or done something more than a 90 second talk.