What can I do to help get pain meds replaced, after client was a victim of strong arm robbery?

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?

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!

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.

Turbozgal, You are Welcome! I'm so glad that everything worked out with his Rx, and I believe in You when it comes to proceeding towards better understanding the innocent patients needs in this circumstance. He Never should have been treated that way! It was so black and white! A disciplinary Action, how ridiculous! I don't understand that at al, as it was documented by the police and everything, and they should have taken him at his word for another! If there had been a pattern of some sort of Rx abuse, maybe, but an honest explanation, no sir, so not Cool! Glad to be a sympathetic ear too, and good luck to you both! He has a good friend in You! Sincerely, Stacey B

Stacey B- first I would like to thank you for your positive post, and concern!!! I went and picked up his meds first thing this morning .😄
I am still absolutely putting effort into trying to prevent the pain center from treating other innocent elderly people like criminals. I feel that it should be in their best interest to fully investigate situations like ours, before deciding to punish anyone. I fully understand that there is a huge problem with people abusing pain meds, but there ARE people that have been taking the same meds for years, without ANY questionable circumstances what so ever. It would not take a lot of time for them to pull up some records, and then utilize this to determine how to proceed with the individual patient. The way they treated him wa unacceptable, and he found it very confusing when they showed absolutely no compassion for him, treated him like it was his fault that this happened, and informed him that he was getting a "disciplinary write up." As if he does not have enough problems to deal with. Honestly the fact that they refused to replace the stolen meds, is the least of my concern. I am far more concerned with how he was treated by the pain center. I am not going to just ignore how they treated him, and plan to continue to put effort into correcting their behavior in hopes of preventing other elders from having to deal with the same treatment. Even if I am unable to make progress, at least I will know that I put effort into standing up for Dave. Just like a lt of people his age, in his medical position, he just allows people to treat him like this, because he does not have the will or energy to speak up for himself. For instance, his transportation to dialysis. They used to be SO unreliable. They would show up REALLY late ALL the time, and sometimes just not show at all. If he was just going shopping or something this would not be a huge problem. When he has to have dialysis to keep him alive, and they are not taking their job seriously, then there are problems. Of course if it were not for me he would have never said anything to anyone, he would have just allowed them to continue not getting him where he needed to be until it killed him. After a long year of dealing with no shows and cancellations, making phone calls, sending emails to anyone that I thought would see the seriousness of the situation, and hoping that at least one email would land in the right place, I finally managed to talk to the right person, all my time, determination, and effort actually paid off!! After having to figure out alternative transportation and making complaints more then 30 times, they have finally been reliable for over six months at this point!! I'm just glad that I was able to speak up for Dave when he would not be able to!!
Again, thank you for your time and concern, it is more then appreciated, it is nice to know that people do care!!

It has been 10+ days now, were you able to get this cleared up and get your patient/friend's refill squared away? I hope so, as that must have been a rough few days for him. I hope you were able to put some of our suggestions into action. And that they helped you! Changing Pain Specialist probably isn't the best solution, as that Dr knows his history, and it tajes awhile to get an appointment with another who takes his Ins. Chalk it up to another crappy life experience, learn, and move on to the next one! Caregiving is darn hard work, and we all meet complications and resistance along the way, all too many times. This is a great place to vent, and to learn from others! Take care of You, and try not to let things get you to riled up, we all do do that though!

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.

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!!👍

Pam's not the only who smelling fish. I do too.

As a matter of fact he did have dialysis on the Fourth of July. Why is that fishy? Banks are even open on the fourth of July.

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.

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.

Why would taking him to the ER cause him to get into hot water?

My 88 yr old mil just went through this little over a month ago also, a hired caregiver stole narcotics and cash and jewelry from her. A police report was filed and a investigation started.
We also called her primary to see what to do to get the meds replaced, they also
said they needed the police report, and all we had was the case number. So we went to the police station to get it. We were told there you do not get the police report until the
case is closed! And it could take months to solve a case or longer if it goes to court.

I understand the legality of the situation, and that the drs have to protect themselves, but it is not fair to the victim of the crime.
We were lucky that my mil only takes this medication as needed and in the end had enough to cover her thru to the next refill thankfully. I do not know what we would had done for her otherwise if she would of needed them earlier. We immediately secured her prescriptions and cash in separate lock boxes. And as of last week one of moms bracelet was found at a pawn shop by the police, so this is the proof they needed to prove this caregiver was the one that did it and they will be prosecuted.


I pray that you find someone to help your client so that he does not have to suffer with pain and go through withdrawal.

Sorry, but what kind of caregiver leaves a man alone outside at 4 AM in a wheelchair with a bag full of drugs? Sounds fishy to me, too. APS will probably show up soon.

Just lost my post but briefly go to ER for immediate care,let them interact with pain clinic. Report to State Health Board and for your county, also elder abuse if necessary. Missuse of narcotics is a huge problem and a single tablet is worth many $s on the street. Your patient is an unfortunate victim in this case but he needs immediate medical help and not just for the pain.

We asked the pain clinic for an early fill when some of Mom's meds came up missing. They said they would do it but it could never happen again. I ordered a lock box to keep them in.

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!

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!!

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.

This is beyond unfair! This is outrageous!