http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Chronic_Pain/forum/18977479-dr-abandonment-no-meds
(6/2/2014) Before they took me back for the test, I asked the doc about refilling my meds. after a bit of waiting the nurse walks in and says ” the doctor won’t refill your medication because your last urine test showed positive for THC”. I am not stupid, I know that THC is in weed, and I don’t use it in any shape or form… neither do I have any friends that use it. I immediately asked to be restested, right then and there. my contract says that I have a right to retest before they stop medicines, or incur disciplinary actions… the nurse then said “Well since you are about to have surgery anyway, you would have to go through your neurosurgeon for them anyway” I said “My neurosurgeon only does those kind of meds during or after surgery in the post op period. even if he scheduled surgery today, that may not be for weeks? what do I do in the meantime?” She then said “Sorry, we won’t refill them… (she then smiled ear to ear) ok be back in for you in a moment for your procedure!”
So I went to the ER, and the ER doctor said it was patient abandonment, and did a blood drug test on me… and surprise! clean as a whistle. The ER doctor gave me some medication to tide me over, and I see the new pain management doctor on thursday….but the agony I have endured since tuesday has been barbaric. Needless to say I am pursuing a legal case against the other doctor…
Reply #6 – 06/02/14 1:56pm: ” My aunt runs a hospital lab so I hear all kinds of mix-up stories…not necessarily on the lab side but the office side as well. A number of things can happen that can result in your test not yielding accurate results which is probably why they have in the contract it can be retested before disciplinary action. Is this a stand-alone office or are they affiliated with a hospital? If they are affiliated with a hospital or medical system, my suggestion is you contact the ombudsman/patient advocate office and state this doctor’s office is breaching the contract and it is resulting in patient abandonment, illegal under common law. Case law supports that, in many cases, even 30-day notice is not generally permissible under common law (but this can be a gray area).
If that isn’t possible or doesn’t yield any results, I suggest going to your state medical board and filing a complaint on breach of contract and patient abandonment. As Aronia alluded to, a legal case may not yield the most tangible results. Even medical board complaints solely related to effective pain treatment are few and far between. I think you have a better chance of receiving a resolution if you bring up the breach of contract and patient abandonment angles.
Reply #9 – 06/03/14 2:48am: Anyhow after two weeks in the hospital my pcp dr said when we did your ursine test when you were first admitted you had methadone & methamphetamine’s in your system!
I said Hell No! I told him the last time I had taken methadone for pain was back around 04 and you couldn’t pay me enough to take it again. I was almost hysterical by this point I asked him what methamphetamine’s were. I had no idea & said I sure as hell didn’t take any. I said did you double check the test meaning take a second sample he said ahh no I didn’t. I told him I demanded that it be taken off my record. I told him I had a pain contract & would never do anything to jeopardize it I respect my pm Dr to much & myself. I said I don’t lie about my meds nor would I screw with them. I honestly didn’t know what methamphetamine’s were. It turns out the night before I had taken NyQuil liquid caps. We got the ones from behind the pharmacy counter & these can cause a false positive of methamphetamine’s. I looked up MN law regarding drug testing & it said if someone tests positive for what I did it was mandatory to do a second test. Not only did he break the law it’s also still on my record.
All Things Chronic 