The Benefit of the Doubt

There was an additional note attached to this prescription saying to call the office if there were any questions. So I had to call.

I only had one question. Did anyone in the physician's office see any paperwork or case number or call the police department to verify what the patient was claiming... since he filled a prescription for Oxycodone 30mg #300 just a week before?

No. No one did any kind of investigation. They simply took the patient's word and are giving him "the benefit of the doubt."

"Benefit of the Doubt" seems to be a common thing with physicians and Oxycodone scripts, at least from my perspective. 

"I left it on the bus."

"It was stolen out of my car." 

"I had a party and someone stole it out of my medicine cabinet."

"I left it in my hotel room and the maid stole it."

"They fell down the sink."

"The pharmacist shorted me."

"We had a flood and they got all wet."

"We moved and I packed them but I can't remember which box I put them in."

"I'm going on vacation. I will run out."

I could go on for pages and pages about every excuse I've heard at the pharmacy. And yes, we do give the patient the benefit of the doubt... but when the same patient does this over and over and over with a different excuse every time, it gets old. 

Why don't physicians see it too?