Pharmacy Crawl Leaves Florida Patients in Severe Pain

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Shapiro Law Group

Florida’s victory over pill mills has created a situation where patients with legitimate pain problems cannot access their medications. Prior to 2010, Florida pill mills prescribed powerful opiate-based medications to anyone with enough money. The crackdown on pill mills has created unanticipated problems for real pain patients.

Pharmacies afraid of legal and financial consequences are not filling pain medication prescriptions signed by doctors. In many cases, patients will visit multiple pharmacies, begging for medications to alleviate their pain symptoms.

The press and Florida lawmakers have referred to this practice as “the pharmacy crawl”, as patients crawl from one pharmacy to another begging for assistance. Patients unable to cope with untreated pain have committed suicide or faced hospitalization for opiate withdrawal symptoms. Other patients report being humiliated while begging pharmacists for pain medications.

Can New Policies Help Patients Avoid the Pharmacy Crawl?

Leaving patients with legitimate health conditions in severe pain goes against everything medicine stands for as a profession. Fortunately, the Florida Board of Pharmacy has approved a new rule that would train pharmacists to change their mindsets about prescribing opiate-based painkillers to patients with legitimate medical issues and prescriptions.

Pharmacists would be required to take a course that will train them to look for reasons to approve patients with proper prescriptions from doctors. For example, pharmacists would take all necessary steps to validate the authenticity of signed prescriptions. If the new plan is successful, patients who are suffering from health conditions will be able to alleviate their pain.

For future updates on patient and medication safety news, follow Shapiro Law Group on Facebook.

Shapiro Law Group – Tampa Bay Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Tags: Pharmaceuticals

What Our Clients Say

“My dad lost his fingers on one hand due to malpractice after a successful surgery that did not involve fingers. For months we were told it was because of debris in his blood. It was not. Mr. Shapiro and his associates were relentless in getting the medical records until the "missing" page was sent. Then they had the hard and arduous job of finding a doctor willing to testify. An informative video and audio with the doctor's testimony was presented. Case closed. Because of their due diligence, a satisfactory settlement was reached. Mr. Shapiro's law firm worked hard, were extremely thorough, professional, and kept in constant communication throughout the whole stressful ordeal. Mr. Shapiro still remembers my parents and keeps in touch with my mom, even after 15 years have passed. That alone is impressive.”

Patti A.

“The Shapiro Law Group represented our daughter, family, and reputation in winning our daughters case that was due to a catastrophic injury. We interviewed many lawyers and felt Mr. Shapiro would ultimately do what was best for our family. Being involved in a lawsuit is very difficult, emotional, and exhausting. If it weren’t for the Shapiro Law Group fighting for our daughter and family, I don’t know where we would be now. They are very thorough, knowledgeable, and know what needs to be done. Lawsuits can take a very long time, and we knew that Shapiro Law Group would not give up. They did whatever was necessary to help our daughter. We can’t thank Mr. Shapiro enough for all he has done for so many! During a very difficult situation in our lives, the Shapiro Law Group went above and beyond in guiding our family in helping our daughter. We would highly recommend this firm. Thank you,”

Stephanie P.

“Attorney Richard Shapiro was able to provide me with very knowledgeable and competent legal expertise to resolve my case.”

D. Harrison