10 Responses to “Is It Legal For A Doctor In Private Practice To Refuse A Patient In 10/10 Pain Pain Medicine?”

1. 

   booksofs said on Friday, August 7, 2009, 22:47

   You will find yourself treated like a heroin-seeking street scum if you show up in an emergency room asking for pain meds. My brother has suffered with two burst lumbar disks for the past year. In spite of having M.R.I.s and X-rays showing the extreme disintegration and crimping of the spinal nerves, he has been treated like trash. Doctors who never bothered to examine him or look at his medical records refused to take him seriously until he found a great doctor at a clinic (after seeing at least a dozen) who took one look at the tests and declared it the worst spinal injury he had seen in an ambulatory patient. By the time my brother had surgery last month he was no longer able to walk and had developed a peptic ulcer from the over the counter meds he had swallowed by the handsful while waiting to be taken seriously.
   If you go to the emergency room and are not treated well, arm yourself with medical records proving your need for the pain meds then call the risk management department in the hospital and tell them how you were refused proper treatment. Also consider a pain management specialist. This is only helpful if you have insurance which the majority of us do not. Michael Moore’s next documentary is on the deplorable state of health care in this country and the toll it is taking on all of us.
   On the other hand, a pharmacist would have to have a very good reason not to fill a legally written prescription for pain meds. My brother is on good terms with his pharmacy so they are not surprised by the high dosages and variety of Schedule II meds he brings in. the only time they refuse if it is too soon which would violate the doctor’s dosage directions.
2. 

   EQ said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 0:02

   It’s legal for anyone to refuse to prescribe you drugs on demand. If you go to the ER, they are required to treat you (ie not send you back out the door), but not to prescribe what you ask for.
   I suspect there’s a lot to this story you’re leaving out. Did you just somehow not notice that you only had a couple pills left and would need a refill over the holiday weekend? Or was it more like your prescription was supposed to last you a month or something and you managed to take them all in a week? Do you even have a prescription?
   Since all he has to do is phone in the renewal, and since you’ve obviously been able to contact him to know that he’s “refusing,” your claim that he won’t give you a refill on a prescription you need to have, just because it’s a holiday, sounds very fishy.
3. 

   Cat said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 4:17

   I doubt a physician would refuse to refill a prescription because of a long weekend.
   Yes it is legal for a physician to not fill a prescription.
4. 

   ft3535 said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 7:50

   yes they can
5. 

   Dark Goddess said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 9:58

   if he is not your regular doctor who does not know you than yes he can. If he is from the same practice he might but then againn he might not. What you are asking for is a very strong medicine, not all doctors feel comfortable prescribing it over the phone. If it is that bad go to your local hospital that is the likely way you are only going to get some medicine, to be looked at and checked out. Your doctor may have already done this, but if you have gone through the medicine before you were supposed to be done with it that sends a red flag to the doctor…like hmmm…why are they all out when they should of had like 10 more days left or whatever…
6. 

   kikime said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 10:13

   yes! are they your primary care physician? if so i would suggest going to the er if it is that sever!
7. 

   Anonymous said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 14:23

   yes because it’s is right to do but as long as it’s not life treating
8. 

   Gypsy Girl said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 15:16

   If the doctor’s office is not open, yes he can and in most cases should refuse to provide the prescription. I assume you are talking about a narcotic pain reliever. He can’t review your chart from home, and may not know the history of this injury. Also its possible, depending on your states laws, that he can’t refill the script from home. Narcotics have to be written out, he can’t just call the pharmacy and order it over the phone. He may not have the ability to write the script and get it to the pharmacy.
   If you are in that much pain, go to the ER to get pain medication. A doctor cannot just give out narcotics without examining the patient.
9. 

   ktray127 said on Saturday, August 8, 2009, 21:39

   yes it is an emergency room cannot though ( FEdeRAL LAW)
10. 

    Fred M said on Sunday, August 9, 2009, 2:15

    I would suggest checking out a recent article in the Bangor (maine) Daily News regarding opiate abuse problems experienced by Maine employers. Opiates are the biggest problem experienced in this state and EMS seems to be stretched out to deal with this problem. Opiates act to kill pain but the chemicals in the opiates causes a dependency and forms a chemical imbalance which causes the brain to “think” there is pain when in fact there is not…….Physicians can be held legally liable or at least have their reputations damaged if they issue prescriptions to those who may have a habit of “misuse” even though the pain may be “real” due to overuse of these compounds. Tough call, but I would side with any physician who denies prescriptions regarding the above.