Cutting Down Dosage Laws
UpdatedSo my mother has a text book of illnesses and is prescribed oxy 30's. Recently through the past few months her doctor has been cutting down her script almost every month. She started at 8 a day and has been on them for many many years for pain. He then cut her down to HALF do to "new drug laws". Now he is trying to get her in half again to only 2 a day! Keep in mind my mother is bi-polar, has rumitoid arthritis, bladder cancer, etc. Anyways, this month he switch her to one script every two weeks. He then didn't fill her script when it was due cause he went out of town and didn't leave a prescription fill slip at the office. So my mom waited a week till he got back(was never notified he was back) and now they won't give her another script till the 1st. So she has been with out meds and isn't getting her prescribed meds for 2 weeks coming. IS THIS LEGAL?! My mom is in really bad shape and I feel like this is neglect to a patient. Please help! Thanks
1 Reply
Hello, Rick! How is your mom doing? I'm very sorry about the problems she's having.
Is this legal? Yes, unfortunately, it is. No doctor is obligated to treat anyone or prescribe anything, unless their life is in immediate danger. If the person is stable, a doctor can stop treating them and stop prescribing anything for any reason.
If she has intractable pain from a possibly fatal condition, such as stage 4 cancer, she is exempt from the directives on lowering her dosage and, technically, her doctor could continue to prescribe as they were doing, but they are not obligated to do so.
The FDA classifies Oxycodone as a narcotic analgesic, so it has the potential to be habit forming and may cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation.
Your mother's option, if she isn't happy with these events, is to see a different doctor. I wish I had better news for you, but this is the way things currently stand in the U.S.
Is there anything else I can help with?
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