Assisted Living, Mexico, and other fun stuff.

I wanted to slam my face in a drawer today.
Lets see what made me mad today:

• I hate the holidays. Not only is it prime season for armed robberies, but people always seem to be going places. Whats with the welfare folk taking 2 month vacations? Oh! Its because they dont work! Thats why! What pisses me off is when you fill a bunch of Rx’s for a person, who then comes in 2 days later asking for a 2 month supply because they are going to mexico for 2 weeks. Uh, why couldnt you fucking tell me that 2 days ago when I filled everything!!! Of course the insurance company only pays for 1 month at a time, so it’ll take some paperwork and phone calls. What? You’re leaving right now? I swear, its like they intentionally do this shit to piss me off. Why cant they send someone in to pick up their medications when they are due, and mail them to Mexico? They dont seem to have a problem finding someone to pick up and cash their welfare check and send them the money.
  Thats what pisses me off. The state pays these people so they can live. Then they take 2 months to head down to Mexico. Im sorry, but we’re paying you to live in THE UNITED STATES, NOT IN MEXICO! It amuses me when people ask for 3 month supply of birth control when they go to mexico for 3 months. Uh, i’m sorry, but arent you on the UNITED STATES system? What’s mexico done for you lately? Do they give you free money, a place to live, and ‘send me your poor and hungry blah blah blah’ bullshit? No. But of course I give it to them, because I dont want them producing any more crotchfruit. The DrugNazi would be proud.
  Yes, i’m an asshole. Actually i’m jealous that I cant take 2 months off and get paid for it. But alas, I couldnt get on the welfare system if I tried. Spending a few weeks in mexico is doable, but 2 months? Give me a break. When I was in school they always had to cater to the kids who took 2 months off to go to Mexico. I realize that its not the kids fault their parents are douches, but lets use some common sense here. If I didnt go to school for 2 months then i’d be held back, expelled, arrested, etc.
  Anyhoo, moving on:
  • On Friday, we filled a prescription for someone in one of those ‘assisted care’ homes. It was a phone in by the doctor himself. We deliver the Rx just like we’ve done a bazillion times. Sound good right? Well the home calls back asking for a copy of the Rx, so we fax over the paper with my scribble on it. They say that my scribble is not a legal Rx and wants someone with the doctors handwriting on it.
    Now this is Friday after 5, so everyone is gone. So the patient is without his medications until today. We lay into this home with both barrels blazing. They say “its our policy to get written Rx’s for everything” to every comment we make about being unethical, having no regard for the patients health, etc. Finally we ask them “If we filled and sent out an Rx for some NitroQuick, and our patient was having a heart attack, would you withold medication?” by god they said “Yes”. For once I had nothing to say. I was astonished and bewildered. The doctors office is pissed that the patient couldnt start his medication Friday, we’re pissed because this is totally unethical and retarded, and the patient and his family are pissed because they couldnt get their medication due to “policy”. Looks like its going to be a fun day tomorrow when the shit hits the fan.
    Other than that, it was your usually crummy day.

Comments #

Comment by Bench on 2006-12-12 05:42:32 -0800 #

Hey .. that’s almost as good as the woman who came to my pharmacy today to get early refills on all of her meds .. including oxycodone. Why? seems she is going on a FUCKING 14 day cruise for the holidays. She was extremely pissed off that the STATE WELFARE system she gets her freebies from, won’t cover her pain meds early. Now what is she to do for spending money while in Jamaica if she can’t sell her hydrocodone?? She shouldn’t have to sell one of her diamond rings. Bet I don’t even get a postcard now.

Comment by A’mee on 2006-12-12 08:33:26 -0800 #

Regarding the nursing home, it sounds to me like the family would have a valid legal complaint to the state. They should also speak to the ombudsman representing the residents of the nursing home. That is just outrageous.

Comment by A’mee on 2006-12-12 08:33:26 -0800 #

Regarding the nursing home, it sounds to me like the family would have a valid legal complaint to the state. They should also speak to the ombudsman representing the residents of the nursing home. That is just outrageous.

Comment by ghettocist on 2006-12-12 18:33:02 -0800 #

We get the ones (you know the ones I mean) : welfare recipients who need their Klonopin, Vicodin, Percocet, Xanax etc. filled early because they are going on vacation. This is total bullshit. Just another excuse to get their meds early. I have a lot of fun with this type. I will greet them with a smile and ask , “Where are you traveling to?” Usually they will explain that their flight to Florida, Mexico, Bahamas, Hell(I wish) etc. leaves today. (Yeah right.) I smile again and very nicely tell them that we can fill their prescription early. I then enjoy the look of happiness and excitement on their face when they think to themselves, “Wow dude, that was so fuckin easy.” I pause a moment(another smile) and say, I just need you to produce a copy of your plane ticket and flight reservation. Their excitement diminishes and a blank look of complete and utter despair takes over their whole face. These people have no plans of flying anywhere let alone the intelligence of how to book a flight or make a reservation. Usually they will come in a few days later to fill their Klonopin, Vicodin, etc. when it is due. I will approach and ask, “I thought you were going on vacation this week?” All I get back is “uhhhhhhhhhh.” Yes folks this is a common word and response where I work. I hate them all.

Comment by disgruntledrph on 2006-12-12 18:50:13 -0800 #

What about this scenario: MD writes rx for medicaid ptn, Lortab 7.5 #90 1 tid. Medicaid in this state only allows #68 per 30 days. You tell patient they can only get #68 and the MD will have to do an override for the difference insurance won’t cover and then they speak up and say “I will pay for the tablets medicaid won’t cover.” What? Aren’t you on medicaid because you cannot afford your medicine? RPh is not supposed to “cash” out rx for the other 22 tabs not covered b/c medicaid could audit them and go back and charge the pharmacy, however, when you call medicaid to report fraud, they say there is nothing they can do. Go figure. We can’t win.

Comment by hillspills on 2006-12-14 12:15:55 -0800 #

Don’t you just love how each day this country becomes more and more of a welfare state?? The ranks of those on disability have gone up dramatically as a % of the population. Unless of course you work for Goldman Sachs where the average salary this year is $600,000 (source NBC news)!!!

Comment by Tina on 2006-12-15 02:26:30 -0800 #

Think about it this way- if they are in Mexico they are not stirring up crap here. Don’t you think that it would be worthwhile to send the unemployed on welfare folks out of country for a mere $500 a month, just to get them out of our hair?

Comment by liz on 2006-12-25 14:24:22 -0800 #

I hate that vacation request from medicaid patients. and they DO seem to always wait until the last minute, within a week of them already filling it for a month supply. !!!
btw, i love your blog and it makes my work day much more bearable. =)

Comment by Sandi on 2007-01-10 05:59:26 -0800 #

This patient takes the cake.
I normally do a fair amount of grumbling over how much stuff is paid for by Medicaid, but this time I had to be proud of what was not covered…
A lady came in with a prescription for Clomid. I did not ever in a million years expect she would be on Medicaid, so I had to look twice and still ask her if she had a new insurance card. Nope, she really is on Medicaid. Then she was just downright surprised that Medicaid would not pay to get her pregnant! Yeah, sure, why don’t you bring a few more into the world…on us. Not.

Comment by israel on 2007-01-28 08:19:15 -0800 #

Angry Pharmacist: maybe you should retire or just go die because your attitude is shit. I am a pharmacist and if I felt I needed to rant like you, I would prefer to kill myself. Have a nice day!

Comment by cardsfanbj on 2010-09-27 16:07:06 -0700 #

What’s even worse? We’ve got a patient who has called from Vegas and, surprise, he’s out of his \Vick-oh-dins\ and wanted us to mail them to him. We asked him why he couldn’t go to one of our pharmacies in the city (yes, I’m a corporate whore/technician) and this is why: he has state-sponsored insurance and they will not pay out of state, let alone another time zone. He told us he didn’t have the money for the cash price and asked if we overnight it for him for free.
He asked if we could bill it and “fill” it in our store but have the Vegas store give him the pills; we could/did not.

He must have hit a hot streak because he went ahead and paid the cash price for it…