If there is one thing that really irks me about drug seekers (well, actually that’s a lie. Many things irk me about drug seekers but I digress), is when they have an enabler on staff. By this I mean that they have an MD on staff at the hospital (someone who has a big practice and is in the hospital all the time) who just supports and or goes along with their nonsense.
They call ahead to say so and so are coming bank in with more vomiting/chronic pain, they admit them for IV narcs, etc. that’s bad enough but there are a few who give their patients a goose that lays gold Dilaudid eggs. They either type a letter on their office stationary or write on a prescription that the patient is a blah, blah, blah pt who suffers from blah, blah, blah and this whichever provider reads this should give him Dilaudid IV 2 mg every 2 hrs.
One patient had his laminated. I would too if it was my meal ticket!
23
Jul
These drug seekers are actually drug addicts, true? Assuming that going to the ED and trying to hustle docs isn’t the way to go, what’s the solution?
I gather that the ED drug seekers are too incompetent or frightened to obtain their drugs in the old-fashioned way — burglary, muggings, etc.
So from the perspective of a ED doc, what’s to be done once these folks are booted to the curb?
Why not say “your license, not under mine” and refuse to treat, or would that me a malpractice case in the making?
LOL @ laminated. I know it isn’t funny but come on! I just want a couple of Ativan for when my sister visits. I can’t even get that from my GP. He says I should learn to be calm without drugs. I agree but it’s hard to be calm when my sister says George Bush is her hero. That’s just the start of her crazy!
I dunno, call me crazy… Any chance they really do have some serious pain? At least a few of them?
@Sus, I’m sure she meant to say Ronald Reagan.
You don’t end up with a pain contract like that without a very good reason. Typically this person has been thru hell and high waters already with the medical community. Chronic pain break through is real. We are relief seekers not drug seekers.
My thought is that if they come in with a note from their MD, with a plan outlined. I’ll give it to them. At least they are following the rules, have a plan of care in place, are following with a doctor. I may not agree with the doctor, but it’s hard to blame the patient when they are at least trying to do the right thing and play by the rules.
I actually have something written by my Urologist that I laminated because I have severe kidney stone issues. I am not a drug seeker or drug addict and only need pain control when I have an attack. I cannot take the typical NSAIDS as I am pregnant.
I do NOT know how to get away from being labeled “drug seeker”. I do not take any oral narcotics as they cause SEVERE heartburn (tried taking them again this weekend and got the painful reminder) and will refuse them if offered in the ER.
I am quite intelligent, I know way too much medical information (my sister is a doctor, my husband is an EMT), I know what works and what doesn’t for my stones as I have passed over 2 dozen (and had that many attacks). And because of this, I am labeled a drug seeker. And the funny thing? I hate narcotics. I hate their side effects, I hate that they really don’t get rid of my pain, and I hate that I have to go in to the ER at 10/10 pain and screaming to not be questioned about my pain.
So yes I fit EVERY thing a drug addict would say/do except I am not one. I am just a kidney stone sufferer that is smart.