Posted on 03/24/2020 2:06:50 PM PDT by Scarpetta
A nationwide shortage of two drugs touted as possible treatments for the coronavirus is being driven in part by doctors inappropriately prescribing the medicines for family, friends and themselves, according to pharmacists and state regulators.
“It’s disgraceful, is what it is,” said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, which started getting calls and emails Saturday from members saying they were receiving questionable prescriptions. “And completely selfish.”
Reynolds said the Illinois Pharmacists Association has started reaching out to pharmacists and medical groups throughout the state to urge doctors, nurses and physician assistants not to write prescriptions for themselves and those close to them.
“We even had a couple of examples of prescribers trying to say that the individual they were calling in for had rheumatoid arthritis,” he said, explaining that pharmacists suspected that wasn’t true. “I mean, that’s fraud.”
(Excerpt) Read more at propublica.org ...
****They SHOULD be writing lots of prescriptions — for themselves, their families, their nurses, hospital disinfection staff, pulmonary specialists, EMTs, firemen, paramedics, hospital administration staff. These are the people on the front line and we need all of them to stay healthy and get well quick if they catch it.****
I get your point, but at some point it can become a hoarding situation. What point is it for the healers to let the patients die?
I remember them days...those pesky pharma detail guys were very popular :-)
Man walks in his front door and his wife asks "Did you remember to buy Viagra today?"
Jewish man walks in his front door and his wife asks "Did you remember to buy Pfizer today?"
A sick doctor is of no use to anyone. A doctor distracted by illness in his own family is less useful than one who is not. The question should be “are these doctors depriving others of treatment?” If the answer is “no”, then no harm, no foul.
It’s because this drug doesn’t work, and Trump is crazy! That’s why they are hoarding it for their families!
If someone in their care dies that could have been saved by drugs the doctor had at home in his dresser drawer, that’s a problem.
The Hippocratic Oath says “First, do no harm”.
Yep.
I like that better.
Of course they should.
Really?
I’m a 64 yo ED physician working Urgent Care right now.
My “social distancing” consists of seeing 40+ people a day coughing and sneezing, many who won’t wear the few masks we have left we give them, all without the proper lever of PPE. I have a 62 yo immunocompromised wife with a cardiac condition.
What do you suppose the odds are that I will get this or bring it home to my wife?
I fully expect to get frantic calls in the next weeks begging me to come to the ER to help out.
Maybe I’ll just call it a career.
Agreed. See my post #25.
But, if a hospital is out of the drug and a sick patient needs it, then the doctor needs to tap into his or her secret stash and give it to the patient.
How much do you think they have? We’re not talking warehouses here. We’re talking a little cupboard.
Read the full article. They aren’t sick. They are prescribing to friends too. If there’s plenty of the drug, then IF they or theirs get sick, then prescribe it.
I thought of that, too. Hard to tell if it is selfish hoarding for families or needed storage for health care providers.
Did you even bother to read the rest of the article?
One doctor called in 8 prescriptions. They refused to fill them because it is fraud. One doctor asked for 200 pills. They too were denied.
Agree if there is a shortage but the hospitals are getting it. And yes 200 is ridiculous.
Why so surprised. Americans haven’t been able to get into med schools for years. Been to a doctor lately? Foreigners. American med schools have dreamer and diversity set asides. They only want liberals. This is what you get.
“My “social distancing” consists of seeing 40+ people a day coughing and sneezing, many who won’t wear the few masks we have left we give them, all without the proper lever of PPE. I have a 62 yo immunocompromised wife with a cardiac condition.”
There are several physicians on my street and they told me the large city hospital does not have the masks and gloves available for them to use to protect themselves. The ER Pediatric physician and his Pediatric Intensivist wife said they were told to only put on a mask if they thought the patient might have Covid-19. That’s a little late to start self-protection. So how are the doctors and health care workers supposed to protect themselves? These people work at GROUND ZERO! They should be offered Hydroxychloroquin and azithromycin prophylactically by the hospital system or the local medical board. In all these other countries with outbreaks, several or many of their physicians have died from the illness while treating patients. We need to save and protect our physicians, especially since our big-city hospital systems have clearly never prepared for a pandemic by having the Personal Protection Equipment- PPEs available, despite the administrators making between $2million to $20 million for salaries. Surely they should have been on top of this.
My FRiend, I will add you and your dear wife to my prayer list!
I can’t really blame you for thinking about calling it a career.
Perhaps you should have a small store of these two drugs set aside in case you need them, and don’t forget the zinc.
I’ll bet every Hollywood A Lister has their stash already.
Health care workers have essentially been ordered into battle with an empty rifle, no helmet and no boots. The system was 100% unprepared for a real pandemic despite billions and billions in spending on preparation for same since 9/11.
Where did the money go?
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