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Help! Accused of Doctor Shopping
Hello,
I am new here and I stumbled across this community message board by looking up what could happen if you were caught doctor shopping. This happened to me yesterday and I feel so stupid!!!!! I don't want to go into detail. Just want to know if this happened to anyone and what the outcome was.
I am new here and I stumbled across this community message board by looking up what could happen if you were caught doctor shopping. This happened to me yesterday and I feel so stupid!!!!! I don't want to go into detail. Just want to know if this happened to anyone and what the outcome was.
I own a pain management facility. Doctor shopping will usually get you kicked out of the clinic you go to since you broke the opiate agreement. If you go doctor shopping, you'll end up in a much worse place than if you found one that you trust and stayed with them.
Hello. I came across your problem. Im from Florida and was told by my doctor that he has seen where over the last 6 months I have went to four doctors for tussinex. I was going to whoever could get me in. I have bronchitis 4-5 times a year. He advised me to quit. He said he could report me but wanted to find the root cause to my problem. Could I still be arrested?
1 Comments
No you cannot be arrested. If your doctor was kind enough to say he would love to find out what was causing your issues to take this medication, you found a caring dr. Run with it go for it. He will help you. Doctor shopping can be a very very serious issue. I have known people that have gone to jail for this reason. You just got lucky. God bless.
I honestly thank God that this has happened to me this early. I'm not suffering from any withdrawals or anything and coming on here (and praying) has really put my mind at ease. Thank God for people like you all. You don't know me at all but care enough to give me advice without judging. Thank you so much, everyone!
Not condoning what was done but here's advice to ease your mind. If you've never been convicted of a felony and an arrest warrant is issued you can always speak w the prosecutor and plead it down and ask for a drug treatment program. Unless your in a state like Florida they should accept it and ask the judge to put u on a short probation w random screenings after which time they will esponge the charge. Again not saying its ok and I am glad you learned from your mistake.
Are you in any type of w/d now from not having the syrup? Your very lucky to have this wake up call so early on. I know it's worrisome and a bad experience but it has saved you many, many deeper consequence in the future. Your story is how most of us started out.
Thank you for easing my worries. I will never attempt to do this again. I'm just glad I got caught and that put the fear of God in me. Only been taking the syrup a little over a month. I do not have any type of relationship with any of the doctors. I'm not from MO. We moved here a few months ago. It all started when I had bronchitis last month and I just liked the way the med made me feel.
I'm sure you're scared, TRY not to think the worst. This may be a blessing in disguise, have you been using long hon? Were you abusing anything before the cough syrup?
It SO depends on the docs, pharmacies, and other people involved as to how far they want to take it. You may just be dismissed by all of the doctors and flagged in the system, or the doc(s) may decide to contact the authorities.
Are any of these docs one you have known for a while? Have you considered maybe talking to one of them, explaining that you need help? And then ask for help? Not only do you NEED the help, but that may work in your favor should anything come up legally. I would advise maybe talking to a lawyer first before making any decisions either way.
I hope it works out for you, and hopefully this was enough of a wake up call for you that you'll get yourself on a path to recovery, as addiction will only progress into worse and worse things. You already were willing to take pretty big risks (you seem to have known that what you were doing was a big no no) to get the hydrocodone, which is a trademark sign of addiction. People struggling with addiction will often do all sorts of things they never imagined to obtain their DOC.
Keep talking to us. Try not to get too overwhelmed thinking the worst. I know that's easier said than done.
It SO depends on the docs, pharmacies, and other people involved as to how far they want to take it. You may just be dismissed by all of the doctors and flagged in the system, or the doc(s) may decide to contact the authorities.
Are any of these docs one you have known for a while? Have you considered maybe talking to one of them, explaining that you need help? And then ask for help? Not only do you NEED the help, but that may work in your favor should anything come up legally. I would advise maybe talking to a lawyer first before making any decisions either way.
I hope it works out for you, and hopefully this was enough of a wake up call for you that you'll get yourself on a path to recovery, as addiction will only progress into worse and worse things. You already were willing to take pretty big risks (you seem to have known that what you were doing was a big no no) to get the hydrocodone, which is a trademark sign of addiction. People struggling with addiction will often do all sorts of things they never imagined to obtain their DOC.
Keep talking to us. Try not to get too overwhelmed thinking the worst. I know that's easier said than done.
Hi There, I think you will be fine except you'll now be " on notice" with all your Dr.'s as well as in the database for all pharmacies and possibly your insurance. I too was getting re's from multiple Dr's over 2 years ago in 2 different states and low and behold My Dr. told me he received a list of all my history. That was when I finally once and for all quit the nightmare of chasing a long gone high and all the shananagins that went with it. I will say my nephew is serving 3-5 years in jail right now for Dr. shopping with intent to distribute, but he had multiple scripts running with multiple Dr.'s and multiple names used. Your situation (in my opinion ) will just get you flagged. Here to help if you want to stop.
Thank you for your response. The rx was Tussionex, a hydrocodone based cough syrup. I got the rx filled 4 times between 4 doctors. I did this over a course of 1 month (started in January and got caught yesterday) I had a total of 6 rx (2 I tried to get filled in a matter of one week) the reason I tried to do 2 in one week is bc my dr wrote me a script on Tuesday (this dr had already written me a script two weeks prior). I went to the pharmacy to try to get it filled. They said my insurance wouldn't cover it until next Friday so they wouldn't fill it. I thought the pharmacist was being a butthead bc when I asked for my script back he said he couldn't give it to me bc my doctor also prescribed an anti biotic and I got it bc I didn't want to make it so obvious that I just wanted the tussionex. So since I couldn't get my rx back I went to another dr the next day (who had also previously prescribed me tussionex) he wrote me an rx and I went to another pharmacy to TRY and get it filled but I was told the exact same thing about my insurance. So I waited a couple of days and decided I would pay for it with cash since limy insurance wouldn't cover it. The pharmacist said he would need approval from my dr so i contacted my dr office and the RN gave the pharmacist the "ok" to get it filled but he still wouldn't do it. I then contacted the first pharmacy that wouldn't fill my rx (the one that wouldn't give me my rx) to see if I could pay for it out of pocket and she said "sure I'll just contact your dr to get an approval" I figured it would be ok since this was two different pharmacies dealing with two different doctors. And to make an already long story, short, I was contacted by one of the pharmacies and was told that the rx I had with them had to be cancelled bc the other pharmacy had already contacted both drs and told them about each other. So here I am sitting here scared to death that the police are going to come knocking on my door. I used my insurance for the 4 that I've gotten filled in the past. Also, I live in Missouri if that helps any.
Hello and welcome! I was just going to post a link to the other thread where we've been discussing this topic with another member, but I see that you already saw it.
As you can see, it IS indeed a crime, and while it isn't always aggressively enforced, it depends on the situation. A lot of factors would determine if someone is charged, and how severely they are charged, including which medication was involved (for example, a schedule 2 narcotic, like Percocet/oxycodone would be treated more seriously than a schedule 3 narcotic like hydrocodone/vicodin), how many scripts were involved and how many pills were Rx'ed (difference between being charged with distribution or not), whether insurance was used or not to pay for the subsequent scripts, if you have any criminal history. Those kinds of things.
Can you share with us a little more about what happened? How it was discovered, who accused you? I'm assuming no legal action was taken as of yet? What was the medication, and how many scripts did you get from how many different docs? Do you have any kind of criminal history?
Hopefully we can shed some light on this for you.
As you can see, it IS indeed a crime, and while it isn't always aggressively enforced, it depends on the situation. A lot of factors would determine if someone is charged, and how severely they are charged, including which medication was involved (for example, a schedule 2 narcotic, like Percocet/oxycodone would be treated more seriously than a schedule 3 narcotic like hydrocodone/vicodin), how many scripts were involved and how many pills were Rx'ed (difference between being charged with distribution or not), whether insurance was used or not to pay for the subsequent scripts, if you have any criminal history. Those kinds of things.
Can you share with us a little more about what happened? How it was discovered, who accused you? I'm assuming no legal action was taken as of yet? What was the medication, and how many scripts did you get from how many different docs? Do you have any kind of criminal history?
Hopefully we can shed some light on this for you.
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