I'm kind of feeling panicked right now

[janradder]

And seriously pissed off.

Almost a week and a half ago, I called my son's doctor to get a refill for his Adderall prescription. Because it is a controlled substance, I have to bring the actual hard-copy of the prescription to the pharmacy, so I've been waiting for it to arrive in the mail. By this past Friday, a full week after I'd originally called in the request, I still hadn't gotten the prescription, so I called the woman in charge of refills again, explaining I only had three days left of meds for my son. She called back that afternoon and said she'd mailed it out on Wednesday.

It is now Monday afternoon, and I still don't have the prescription because the woman, in all likelihood, it was never mailed out at all. I have now put in two calls to her, once on Saturday so she'd hear the message first thing this morning, and again this morning. She has not called back so I've placed an angry call with the doctor's nurse explaining my situation.

This is not the first time something like this has happened with the medication refills that originate out of this woman's office, though it is the first time it's happened with the Adderall. In fact, every time but one that our pharmacy has faxed in a refill request, it has gone unanswered as my son's med supply steadily dwindles, and they've had to fax two or three times more (in addition to my own phone calls) to get the woman to actually do the job she's paid for.

I am seriously fucking pissed off today. Éiden is home from school with a high fever and because of this woman's laziness, I now have to cart him out in the cold rain, drive to the University, find parking, pick up the damn refill that should have been here last week, head out to Target pharmacy, wait twenty minutes to an hour for them to refill it and be back home by 3:30 so I can get Arie when the bus drops him off at home and take him to his 4:00 appointment. And, right now, it's 12:50. This is absolute, fucking bullshit.

ETA: I just got off the phone with the woman's supervisor who not only apologized for all of this, but said that either she or someone else would be waiting for me at the front door so that I don't have to find parking and traipse my sick son through the rain, for which I am immensely grateful.

Comments

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

Well, this is just what you have to do because somebody might want to use that drug recreationally, and that would be an affront to God.

I'm really sorry - I had a friend in severe continuous pain after an accident who had similar troubles regarding pain meds. Yeah, that's how you want to treat people in chronic, severe pain: make them dance for their fucking pain killers.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I completely understand that this is a controlled substance and that makes it harder to get a simple refill than something like prozac, but, really, to make it even harder through sheer incompetence and laziness, that's what pisses me off. And, the fact that I have to jump through the same hoops to get Arie's other, non-controlled substance, refills makes it all the more frustrating.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

I completely understand that this is a controlled substance and that makes it harder to get a simple refill than something like prozac

I don't, really. Even if you believe that there's some benefit to wasting resources and energy and lives trying to ban intoxication, surely whatever steps you take in that direction shouldn't hinder people who need the same drugs for medical purposes. If that's happening, you're failing big time at whatever it is you were trying to do.

(Rhetorical "you," obviously.)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying I agree with how they do it, just that I know that if I want to keep my son on Adderall I have to call it in and wait for a hard copy. I do wish there were an easier way to get the refill but, if everyone does their job, it's not too big a hassle. The problem, of course, is that it assumes everyone is doing their job, which is not always the case.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

The problem, of course, is that it assumes everyone is doing their job, which is not always the case.

If you're going to make people jump bureaucratic hoops for whatever reason, you have to know it's often going to end up being way harder than it is on paper, even. If anybody in the chain of sign offs fails or forgets, the "client" in the middle is screwed, and people are always falling and forgetting. It sucks.

[theryk.livejournal.com]

That woman seriously needs a job review...

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I just got off the phone with her supervisor and stressed again how this seems to happen every time I need a refill. Hopefully, she'll having a nice chat with Esther about her job performance.

[pnew8.livejournal.com]

With our son's prescription when he was on Adderall, the doctor made out a number of subscriptions forms for us to take in on the appropriate month. You might discuss that option with your doctor/nurse.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea. I'll bring that up with him.

[jamiam.livejournal.com]

I went through something similar with my oxycodon, in that because it was a controlled substance, I had to drive all the way out to my doctor's office to collect the prescription myself and bring by hand back to the pharmacy to be filled. Because apparently it's state law that the prescription can't be faxed in? Except that nobody at either the pharmacy or the doctor's office actually bothered to TELL ME that, so I just went to the pharmacy on Friday night expecting my refill to be there, and then had to wait until Monday morning so I could go fetch the damn piece of paper from my doctor.

But in your case, nobody's saying that you are required by law to fetch the prescription by hand? There's just this long history of negligence with all of the refills originating from that doctor's office?

I hope Eiden feels better.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

The scrip can't be faxed in, but it can be mailed to me. I just need the original on security paper. However, the woman who was supposed to mail the prescription never did. She also doesn't fax in the prescriptions for non-controlled substances in a timely manner (sometimes it takes more than two weeks for her to get around to it).

I think Éiden's feeling better because he's running around. I'm not feeling so hot, though.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry. In NC we have to pick the prescription up. It can't be mailed. It is such a pain. I can imagine how tense you must have been waiting on it. I know what a huge difference even the timing of the dosage makes. I am sorry E is sick as well.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

The nurse (who supervises the woman in charge of refills) was really very nice and apologetic and got it written out pretty quickly which definitely made it less stressful.

I think Éiden's feeling better -- he's running around like a maniac right now.