My First Threat

This couple comes to the pharmacy today with an RX for Vicodin (yea, what else.)

Technician takes it and enters it. Insurance doesn't go through, indicating refill too soon. Technician looks up patient profile to find that just a couple of days ago, another rx for vicodin was called in from the ER (note that in my 2.5 months working as an intern, I have never received any voicemails or phone ins from any docs from this popular local ER). Anyway, technician tells pharmacist about it. Pharmacist begins questioning the RX and calls in to the doc's office to let them know of the situation. Doctor's office agent identifies that the Rx is written by them, but feels the situation is sketchy nonetheless, and asks us to hold the script until she has further instructions from the doc.


The guy comes back and technician explains the situation to him; tells him why we can't dispense his girlfriend's rx. He tells us that it's garbage and we're not doing our jobs. We had no right to question anything. He demands the script back. Pharmacist steps in and explains that per the doctor's instructions, we cannot release the prescription until he verbally allows so.

The guy got PISSED. He swore up a storm and told us that we have no right to withhold anything, that the prescription was her personal property, that if we kept it, we'd be in the wrong. Pharmacist explains that we cannot go against the doctor's orders. Man asks who we spoke to at the office. We tell him that it's probably the doctor's MA. the guy gets hella pissed and tells us that we lied to him and told us that if the doctor didn't say so himself, we'd have no right witholding the rx. Pharmacist tells him that what we're doing is completely legal.

That doesn't stop him. he gets even more pissed and raises his voice. He screams at us about how we're fucking inhuman and we're just sitting here fucking watching his girlfriend in pain because she's going through a miscarriage. He' s making a scene in a quiet pharmacy, despite the fact that there's 3 innocent old men sitting behind him, scared to death I'm sure. He tells us taht he won't believe anything until the doctor calls us back on it.

and then he said the magic words.

"you better get me my prescription or I'm going ta jail because someone here is gonna get hurt."


in a hearbeat, the RPh called the manager, who quickly called the police and reported that a man had made a real threat to the pharmacy staff to obtain a narcotic prescription (according to the RPh, a felony in Oregon). The guy denies ever had threated us, despite the fact that everyone inside the pharmacy plus the old men in the lobby heard him. The police arrived quickly on scene and escorted him out of the store.


yea....the doctor never called back.