I had a bad accident about a year ago and herniated 2 disc in my lower back as well as did some nerve damage. I began seeing my neurologist for treatment and he was prescribing me lortab 10/500 as well as neurontin, and I started getting injection therapy.
In March I found out I was pregnant with my second child so of course I started seeing my OBGYN. I told him everything that was going on with my injury and was completely honest about my prescriptions and treatment and he gave me a release to continue being evaluated and treated for my pain and injury. Because the neurontin was deemed completely unsafe for my baby I was taken off of it and only given the lortab. Then at the end of August my OBGYN decided to take over prescribing my pain meds so he could better monitor it for the sake of my baby. He cut my strength to lortab 5/500 and gave me prescriptions that had 30 pills each. I was instructed to take them every 4-6 hours for pain which meant that a script only lasted about 10 days at the most.
Now, I still had refills from my prescriptions from my neurologist and I was ignorant and thought I should go ahead and fill them or lose them. I did not take any of them as they are stronger than what my OBGYN wants me to have. But now I have been filling prescriptions from two different doctors. 2 prescriptions from my neurologist and have filled 5 from my OBGYN, totaling 7 in the past 2months.
Here's where it gets more complicated.
I got a call from my OBGYN office about 6 weeks ago informing me that my OBGYN was no longer with the practice and another obgyn was taking over my care. I had assumed that my previous obgyn had documented everything that was going on with my case, in my charts and stuff, when in fact he didn't.
So I get a call from my pharmacy three days ago saying I have been filling way too many prescriptions and they have contacted both doctors about it. So my obgyn calls and says " why didn't you tell us about the other doctor giving you meds?" I had honestly thought the doctor would already know about my entire condition but like i said my prior obgyn didn't chart any of it.
Now I am waiting to go back to my obgyn next week to plead my case to him about the problems, and of course admit my ignorance because I did t know what I was doing was wrong.
What should I expect? The nurse that called me from the obgyn office said it would be up to the doctor to contact the state about doctor shopping. What am I facing here? I understand that ignorance is no excuse however I had no idea about doctor shopping or anything of the sort. I am terrified I am going to lose my kids and end up in prison over being ignorant. Please help...
I didnt know I was considered to be "doctor shopping"?
Responses (3)
This is horrible. I can completely understand why you filled the prescriptions. These are new laws, so we aren't sure what they mean. Then you had a lazy doctor, and an incompetent pharmacist. Write down what you did and whom you talked to, if possible. Set your meds on a newspaper and take a pic-to show the date, if worse comes along this will help you. That should help prove that you haven't sold them.Take all of your meds in when you see the doctor, so they can see that you aren't taking them or selling them. Take everything you have. If possible get any records that you can from the neurologist. You need to have these things in case you need a new doctor or end up in court. Promise the doctor that you won't do it again, and you're willing to sign a contract about your care, and drug use. Tell the doctor that since it was illegal-why did the pharmacist fill them-the pharmacist is supposed to know the laws.
I dont think you are going to get into too much trouble for this. I had a great answer for you then my computer crapped out and I lost it so I'm going to try to rewrite most of it. Geting opioid Rxs from two different Dr is a no-no but I've seen people seeing 4-5 Drs and didnt get into much trouble. Probably the most they will do is refuse to prescribe opioids any longer. Anytime you get opioids, you should get them from only one Dr. When a pharmacy discovers you are getting them from more than one source they will notify both sources that you are getting meds from each of them. Most likely what they will do is counsel you on the dangers of opioids and possible refuse you any more of them. You just need to be honest with the new OB and let him know that you did not realize what you were doing was wrong and that your former OB never told you that you couldnt fill the refills on the Rx's from the neurologist.
According to the NIH-National Institure of Health, one of the reasons the DEA and everybody is on our case, because we have bottles dope lying around for children to get into. This in a 130 page paper advocating pain relief, and the problems of patients receiving care. The paper is called "Relieving Pain in America" the URL is <ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/nbk56280/pdf/nap13172.pdf>.
One of the reasons these laws are now going into effect is that in 2010-the DEA had an amnesty for people to turn in drugs and the DEA collected about 110 tons of meds. It didn't say how much of it was opiods.
Further Information
- Lortab Information for Consumers
- Lortab Information for Healthcare Professionals (includes dosage details)
- Side Effects of Lortab (detailed)
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I've seen people fall through the cracks-that's why I recommended taking the pills in-it's better to turn them in-than to have trouble in getting future medical care. Maybe the notes were sent to a transcriber and lost-maybe some authority took the records because the old OB has legal issues. It's easy to believe that records dissapeared or were lost. Maybe the old GYN was sick and didn't write anything. Things like that do happen. Not every doctor is perfect or even competent. At the last visit, my current doctor told me the previous doctor had entered things in my chart that didn't apply to me. One is that I'm supposed to be in kidney failure. Fortunately I met him in May and I was wearing tank tops, so he could see that I'm fairly muscled up and have callouses on my hands. I've had him for about 6 months now.
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He checked with the pharmacies, and they never received any scripts for some of the meds that the doctor said that she prescribed-he says that I certainly don't have any of those conditions-whatever they are. Gastroentology filed a complaint about the former doctor, and my current PCP is doing that. I don't understand what went on. I do know that I was consistently weighed in as being 15 lbs over weight. I couldn't get an independent weigh-in within the system by stepping on a scale and having a different nurse say, "Yes, you do weigh 140 lbs not 155." and write it in my chart. I had to pay to go to a dietician in the system to get my proper weight. Then GI weighed me a few months later-this was part of the complaint GI had against the former doctor-improper weight in chart. My opinion is that it's better to protect yourself. My son kept going through tests at the VA-same thing about 5 times-He got scared and asked what was wrong with him. The lab lost the work. Again it's entirely possible that the doctor sent records to be transcribed, and they got lost there. I just had to deal with someone at the GI clinic that was thicker than a mud wall. My script for my refills wasn't being processed. This person blew off the insurance reps that called to see why it was taking over 7 working days for me to get my meds. Everybody at GI have been so sweet-then this happened. The reps are really upset and pursuing this. Tommorow I begin fasting and taking laxatives for a colonoscopy-the last time I prepared for one, I had convulsions. This is an awful time to be without antispasm meds. Like I said-a felon just gets probation and drug counseling-I don't see them throwing the book at a pregnant mother.