Is it legal for a pharmacist to change my prescription ?

[FlyingRon]

Same thing. There's no duty to fill.

 

[quincy]

Same thing. There's no duty to fill.

While true, the concern is with the change in the prescription from 15 days to 30 days. The prescription should not be altered by a pharmacist.

 

[FlyingRon]

It is NOT a change in prescription. You can keep staying that, but it is not the case. The pharmacist could put NO REFILLS on the bottle if he wanted and that would still be legal.

 

[xylene]

Are these pills opiate controlled substances or other controlled substances?

 

[quincy]

It is NOT a change in prescription. You can keep staying that, but it is not the case. The pharmacist could put NO REFILLS on the bottle if he wanted and that would still be legal.

Not if it is entered in the national database. Saying "no refills" alters the doctor's prescription.

 

[FlyingRon]

I don't care if he published it in the New York Times. That's not "altering" the prescription.

 

[quincy]

I don't care if he published it in the New York Times. That's not "altering" the prescription.

It is too. If a doctor prescribes refills, that is part of the prescription.

The pharmacy can choose not to fill or refill a prescription but they cannot prevent others from refilling a prescription by altering the doctor's instructions.

 

[FlyingRon]

Frequency of refills is not part of the prescription under the law. Number of refills is.

 

[quincy]

Frequency of refills is part of many state's pharmacy laws. A patient cannot get a refill too early. But refills are part of the doctor's prescription.

 

[Zigner]

I suspect the insurance company won't allow this to be filled every 15 days.

Edit: This may be a change - OP did you recently change insurance providers?

 

[quincy]

I suspect the insurance company won't allow this to be filled every 15 days.

Edit: This may be a change - OP did you recently change insurance providers?

The insurer said the pharmacy violated federal law by changing the prescription.

The pharmacy changed the prescription from 15 days for a refill to 30 days for a refill - altering the doctor's instructions and preventing the dispensing of a needed drug.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I suspect the insurance company won't allow this to be filled every 15 days.

Edit: This may be a change - OP did you recently change insurance providers?

That's along the lines of what I'm thinking.

My experience has been that the insurance will only allow 30 days at a time, and you cannot get a refill until close to 30 days is up - you might be allowed to refill 3-4 days early, but not over a week early.

I *think* what Carrie is trying to say is that the pharmacist recorded it as a 30 day supply, but put in only a 15 day supply: "when I went to get my new prescription was told the pharmacist put 30 day supply on my prior prescription." Therefore, because Carrie only had a 15 day supply, but the pharmacist entered it as a 30 day supply, Carrie is not going to be authorized for a refill right now.

It does not have to be an opiate prescription for this to happen. It could be a clerical error, a mathematical error, or it could be even a pharmacist wrongly assuming there was an error in the prescription.

An inexperienced pharmacist might erroneously assume the doctor made a clerical error and "correct it" - of course, the correct thing to do if an error is suspected is to contact the doctor and verify the prescription was meant to be as written. For example, a prophylaxic dosage of warfarin (rat poison) is 2 mg - 10 mg / day, with the blood tested regularly since too high a dosage over a prolonged time can result in internal bleeding and death. However, a family member was prescribed 25 mg-30 mg/ day (warfarin-resistant). People with warfarin-resistance need much higher doses of the medication, doses that would be fatal for most people, and so it is understandable that a pharmacist might look more than twice when filling a prescription. But I would think that, ethically, pharmacists are bound to honor what's written on the prescriptions, and if they think the doctor has made a mistake that would endanger the patient's life, they should contact the doctor before filling the prescription to determine if a correction is necessary.

 

[quincy]

That's along the lines of what I'm thinking.

My experience has been that the insurance will only allow 30 days at a time, and you cannot get a refill until close to 30 days is up - you might be allowed to refill 3-4 days early, but not over a week early.

I *think* what Carrie is trying to say is that the pharmacist recorded it as a 30 day supply, but put in only a 15 day supply: "when I went to get my new prescription was told the pharmacist put 30 day supply on my prior prescription." Therefore, because Carrie only had a 15 day supply, but the pharmacist entered it as a 30 day supply, Carrie is not going to be authorized for a refill right now.

It does not have to be an opiate prescription for this to happen. It could be a clerical error, a mathematical error, or it could be even a pharmacist wrongly assuming there was an error in the prescription.

An inexperienced pharmacist might erroneously assume the doctor made a clerical error and "correct it" - of course, the correct thing to do if an error is suspected is to contact the doctor and verify the prescription was meant to be as written. For example, a prophylaxic dosage of warfarin (rat poison) is 2 mg - 10 mg / day, with the blood tested regularly since too high a dosage over a prolonged time can result in internal bleeding and death. However, a family member was prescribed 25 mg-30 mg/ day (warfarin-resistant). People with warfarin-resistance need much higher doses of the medication, doses that would be fatal for most people, and so it is understandable that a pharmacist might look more than twice when filling a prescription. But I would think that, ethically, pharmacists are bound to honor what's written on the prescriptions, and if they think the doctor has made a mistake that would endanger the patient's life, they should contact the doctor before filling the prescription to determine if a correction is necessary.

You are reading carrie's post as I have.

It appears to be a pharmacist mistake in writing 30 instead of 15 and not any intent on the pharmacist's part to deprive carrie of her medication.

It altered the doctor's prescription but it appears to be an error that the pharmacy has located and is working (albeit slowly) to correct.

 

[carrie417]

You have the prescription in hand? Go to another pharmacy (different company) and get a new prescription. Pay for it if you have to.

Arguing the legality and/or blame isn't going to get you any medication.

I cannot get my prescription filled anywhere until the 30 days have past ,that is the problem.

 

[quincy]

I cannot get my prescription filled anywhere until the 30 days have past ,that is the problem.

What is the medication and how vital is it to your health?