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I am a caregiver for a man that has end stage reinal disease, he is also in a wheelchair 24 hours a day as a result of a back injury and a broken leg with a steel bar in it. He is 67 years old, and has been doing dialysis for over 10 years. On the Fourth of July, he was sitting at the end of his driveway waiting for his transportation to the kidney center, as he always does three times a week. It was 4:45 am when he woke up from dozing off, and looked up just in time to see someone running down the street with his duffle bag that he had on his lap. Besides the keys to the house, Van, and safe, they also got away with his headphones, blanket, and pain meds. He has never ever had any problems with loosing his pain meds or having them stolen. He has never overtaken his pain meds. He always keeps them with him, and is responsible with them. We filed a police report, and I contacted the seattle pain center in everett, wa to tell them what happened. They asked if there was a police report filed, and wanted the case number, I gave them this information. I asked what I needed to do to help the man I take care of replace the 10 days worth of meds that were stolen from him. They set up an appt. for the following day. We went to the appt. and they said they want him to do a blood test, and that they will not replace his meds, also he was getting a disciplinary write up because he was robbed. I said that is BS. The man told me to get out and that I was not welcome to come to Daves appointments any more. Now he is going threw withdrawls and in a lot of pain. I found out that if I was to take him to the emergency room so he could get the meds he normally takes, that they will do more then a write up, because he signed something when he first started going to the pain center saying that he is not allowed to be prescribed any pain meds from any other facility besides them. This would be understandable if Dave had abused his meds in the past, or maybe even if he had just filled his script, and it was full. The pain center should look at the big picture when dealing with each patient, consider all the factors before punishing someone that is a victim of strong armed robbery. I feel helpless having to see him go threw all this pain, and I have no idea how to help him get threw this next ten days, let alone how I'm going to get threw the next ten days. This is beyond unfair, and there has to be something that can be done about innocent people in the same situation.

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Babalou, in many states there is now central reporting of controlled drug dispensing. So if you get pain pills in more than one place, you are red flagged and cut off from prescriptions.
Note they did a blood test on this patient. That means the drug levels were not what they should be, another red flag that resulted in cutoff. False reports of theft occur all the time.(Note: this was not a robbery, no deadly force used). I don't know anybody who would be going to dialysis at 4 AM on the 4th of July Holiday. Very phishy.
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Opiate withdrawal can be a serious concern in someone with Dave's health conditions and needs to be supervised by professionals. Take him to the ER, and don't allow them to send him home unless they replace his meds.
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Well the good news is now it has been 10 days and he should be able to fill his prescription at the usual time at his original pain clinic. I would now, go out and buy a lock box for his medications and ask him to only carry a one day supply with him when he leaves the house. Iwould now chalk this one up to experience and understand that pain doctors take this kind of thing very seriously.
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Just to add 2cents about the holiday part -- I clean for a dialysis clinic and they are open Mon - Sat., yep, even on the fourth of July. Christmas & Thanksgiving are the only holidays they shift the schedule for.

Patients are scheduled 3x each week - either the Mon, Wed, Fri group or the Tues, Thurs, Sat group.
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Not trying to be obnoxious here but was there some reason why he needed to have the entire supply of pills with him? Because losing a day's worth of meds would be a far less crushing development than losing all of them is. Doctors and pharmacies never look kindly on people when they lose or misplace narcotics, as they've heard every single excuse in the book where those meds are concerned.
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He will be in more hot water if I take him to the ER, I looked into this. I contacted his regular dr, today, and asked for their advice, the said to figure out which pain management places will accept his insurance, find out if they are taking patients, and if I was able to find one they would write a referral. I really do not want to take him back to the everett seattle pain center, they treated him very unfairly, and I do not feel they are doing their job. They should be able to do a little research on a patients past script issues, and properly assist the individual patients. Otherwise, there is something really wrong happening here. This is a nightmare. I appreciate the feedback, thank u!!
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I would you suggest you ask the Dialysis center call his usual pain Rx provider, as they might hold a little more weight in this situation. Totally unfair I agree, but in the emergent issue of getting his meds, it might just work. Good luck, and yes they are totally treating him unfairly! You cannot get huffy in the pain clinic, as that might make them suspicion of you, perhaps putting him up to something shady. But really they are being unprofessional and unjust to Their Patient! The police officer who wrote up the report might help make a call as well. But in the end, you might just have to take him to the ER for his health safety's sake. Withdrawal is nothing to fool around with! Good luck!
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Well, everyone is entitled to there opinion. I would not have bothered to ask for anyone's suggestion if I did not really need it. My clients well being is my number one concern, and I work really hard to do the job I do. I always go the extra mile to see to it that he has everything he needs. I unfortunately have days off, when I cannot be with him to protect him, those days happen to be his dialysis days. This is because those are the days that he is really tired, and does not want anyone around. Anyways, those of you that think there is something "fishy" with this situation, you are mistaken. I won't waste anymore of my time explaining whom is right or wrong, because that is not why I'm here. I'm here to try to help my client, plain and simple. I would like to thank anyone that took the time to read his story, and all the feed back you gave in response!!! Thank you!!👍
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Yes, it was recommended in an earlier post, by me, lol that patients should only carry a one day supply of meds, so this sort of thing doesn't happen,. But the OP is a paid caregiver, and doesn't nessasarily have complete control over that action. Sometimes you just don't anticipate the worst thing possible happening, and then it does!
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Turbozgal, I am a retired Medical Assistant, and after 30+ years working side by side with Primary Care, and calling in and assisting a "Billion" medication refills, I heard every excuse in the book! And while some people may have thought something may have been suspicious in your post. I felt it was Genuine from the start. I could hear the sincerity and frustration at the situation, and I believed you. There are safety measures put in place, like Pain Contracts, and clinic rules, but usually Dr's will alow ONE early refill for a mishap or such, . And only ONE! But usually the Dr will listen to reason, and this situation seemed to be reasonable to me, with a Police report or case #. We're not talking a whole 30 day Rx, only ten days. I really think that the patient has learned his lesson. The whole situation has been resolved. Let's drop it shall we?
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