Phony Rxs

Phony call-in Rxs are the worst.

The other day, just before 5pm a message was left on the voicemail system. The caller claimed to be a doctor phoning in a new prescription for #120 Lortab 10/500mg. The patient was new to me, and it just seemed funny. A little too perfect. The “doctor” even remembered to include his DEA number.

I called the office to verify the prescription and had to page the doctor on call. I always feel bad doing that; the doctor is done working for the day and I only page doctors when I feel it is absolutely necessary. The doctor laughed when I told him about the prescription and said that he absolutely did NOT call it in. He was glad I had paged him to verify it.

This is always when I start to get nervous. I processed the prescription but didn’t count it. I hoped the “patient” would come in before my technician left for the day. I work alone from 6pm to 8pm on Mondays. This was my plan: tell him I hadn’t counted it yet, I needed information/driver’s license because he was a new patient for me. Then call the cops. I hoped he would stick around long enough for them to arrive. It’s stupid how it isn’t illegal to call in a fake prescription, just to pick it up. It makes it so hard for us to catch these people.

He called after my technician left to see if it was ready. I swallowed hard, and told him it was. Then I called the police department. Remarkably, they sent an officer over right away, who hid in the back waiting for him to arrive. He must have seen the police car outside, because he never showed up to pick up the prescription.

The officer told me that this has been happening a lot recently. He said oftentimes the person picks up the prescription, and the pharmacy only learns it was a fake after it has already been sold. It is unfortunate that office hours and pharmacy hours are so different. Like myself, pharmacists are always reluctant to page doctors on call. So rather than tell the patient that they must wait until the following day to verify the questionable script, the pharmacist just fills it. A lot of pharmacists just don’t have their heart in it anymore. It’s easier to not make waves. If they learn it is a phony prescription, they just won’t fill it. They don’t call the police, they don’t try to stop the cycle. I always appreciate a pharmacist that does his or her part to stop drug diversion.