wait a minute! YANMD!!
February 5, 2014 12:37 PM Subscribe
i have a few prescriptions written by my GP. he is located in RI. i reside in MA. he's been my GP for the last 10 years. so who is this other guy's name on the bottle??
i've had the same 3 prescriptions for over a year now, so none of them are new. a couple of months ago, i ran out of prescription X, which is a non-controlled blood pressure medication. i called the office to have them call in a new RX to my pharmacy, went and picked up my pills, and that was it. except, due to an unrelated hiccup at the pharmacy yesterday, i realized that the past 2 issuances of this RX have another prescribing doctor on the label. My doctor is the only one in a private practice that is not affiliated with any hospitals, etc. so it's not like the on call doc wrote it up - he is the on call. i googled the name of the doc and he is a surgeon (!) in PA in the philly area. also, i have called in requests for prescriptions Y & Z in the same way that i did X and the name change did not happen in these cases. so what's the deal with this? who is this mysterious surgeon in philly trying to give me drugs?
i've had the same 3 prescriptions for over a year now, so none of them are new. a couple of months ago, i ran out of prescription X, which is a non-controlled blood pressure medication. i called the office to have them call in a new RX to my pharmacy, went and picked up my pills, and that was it. except, due to an unrelated hiccup at the pharmacy yesterday, i realized that the past 2 issuances of this RX have another prescribing doctor on the label. My doctor is the only one in a private practice that is not affiliated with any hospitals, etc. so it's not like the on call doc wrote it up - he is the on call. i googled the name of the doc and he is a surgeon (!) in PA in the philly area. also, i have called in requests for prescriptions Y & Z in the same way that i did X and the name change did not happen in these cases. so what's the deal with this? who is this mysterious surgeon in philly trying to give me drugs?
It's possible it was someone filling in for your doctor while he was on vacation.
posted by NoraReed at 12:44 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by NoraReed at 12:44 PM on February 5, 2014
Response by poster: @phunniemee: i did ask the pharmacist and he just kind of shrugged.
@norareed: this is what i'm thinking but a surgeon from PA filling in for a GP from RI? I suppose...anyone have an example of an out of state and unaffiliated doctor doing so? usually when i call after hours/weekends, etc. i get his answering service which then pages him with the request.
posted by ps_im_awesome at 12:53 PM on February 5, 2014
@norareed: this is what i'm thinking but a surgeon from PA filling in for a GP from RI? I suppose...anyone have an example of an out of state and unaffiliated doctor doing so? usually when i call after hours/weekends, etc. i get his answering service which then pages him with the request.
posted by ps_im_awesome at 12:53 PM on February 5, 2014
Best answer: Sounds like a data entry error to me. If your pharmacy is a chain, I'd ask to speak to the head pharmacist for that location. If you don't get satisfaction, I'd call the pharmacy customer care line.
posted by bfranklin at 12:57 PM on February 5, 2014
posted by bfranklin at 12:57 PM on February 5, 2014
Best answer: It sounds like a simple mix-up in the pharmacy computer. One of my monthly prescription labels has, for the past 18 months, said that I only have 1 refill left, even though that's clearly untrue. The pharmacists don't seem to care and it doesn't affect me so now I just ignore it.
Does your physician have a Nurse Practicioner in his practice? They can refill prescriptions and at some practices that is a big part of their job. Could this NP coincidentally have the same name as a doctor in PA?
posted by muddgirl at 12:58 PM on February 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Does your physician have a Nurse Practicioner in his practice? They can refill prescriptions and at some practices that is a big part of their job. Could this NP coincidentally have the same name as a doctor in PA?
posted by muddgirl at 12:58 PM on February 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
Best answer: This has happened to me at CVS with local physicians who have the same last name. I just ask the pharmacy to correct it when I catch it, though I also find it a little disturbing that one of the same-name doctors authorized a refill for me when I had never been a patient of his.
I believe that another time the pharmacy realized they had contacted the wrong physician for a refill and while they did finally get in touch with the correct office nobody fixed it in the computer and the label was still wrong, so that happens, too.
posted by camyram at 3:25 PM on February 5, 2014
I believe that another time the pharmacy realized they had contacted the wrong physician for a refill and while they did finally get in touch with the correct office nobody fixed it in the computer and the label was still wrong, so that happens, too.
posted by camyram at 3:25 PM on February 5, 2014
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posted by phunniemee at 12:41 PM on February 5, 2014