Open Question: Can a doctor legally do this and is she jeopardizing our health?

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

Here’s the story, summed up as best as I can and if anyone can tell me whether or not this sounds like its against the law or if she is within her rights I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance!
Ok so I moved to Maine about 18 months ago and was on Dilaudid and the Fentanyl Patch for pain due to having rather severe Crohns Disease. I didn’t know who to go to for a doctor up here and a family friend worked at and recommended a place that was adjacent to a hospital where they have doctors in a residency program. I didn’t realize it was a residency program until I was already established into the practice and getting my medicine for my Crohns and being treated by one of their doctors, I didn’t really mind that my doctor didn’t have much experience because at the time I felt I was getting the care I needed and also under the care of a Gastro for my Crohns. Then about a year ago, the doctor I was established with, had ‘graduated’ and I was ‘reassigned’ a new doctor who I felt was very friendly and it kind of blinded me,in a sense, from the fact that she didn’t really know too much about what she was doing (I could give examples of her mistakes but have very little room here to tell this long story but she even told me at one point she could lose her license due to the mistakes she was maki)g!It came time to where I needed to get off of my pain meds and this has been an ongoing thing since the age of 15 when diagnosed w/ Crohns so I am very familiar with how to taper off pain meds and what my old Dr’s in DC would do, they almost always used Methadone to get me off pain meds and it was always rather easy. With the Dr up here she wanted to do it her way and I was doing ok at going down at 2 mgs a month but told her that in my past my doctors used Methadone to get me off of the pain meds and I was able to get off in about 2 months time, easily and successfully. She didn’t want to do it that way for whatever reason and when it came down to me being at 28mgs from 42mgs a day I started having a bit of trouble and feeling really yucky since I had been on this medicine for 3 years straight but I kept trying and it just got to be too overwhelming and I told her about the troubles I was having and she just didn’t seem to really care too much. So, I called up a Methadone Clinic and they said they could help me taper off of my meds and so I went for intake and they called her (my dr) for me to tell her that I was now going there to taper off instead. She seemed very bothered by this when I spoke to her on the phone and she asked “How can they help you more than me??” and I told her that I was very serious about getting off of the medicine and that with her plan it is going to take me another year (!!!) and that the methadone clinic said I could do it in about 3 months time, basically the same way my old Dr’s in DC used to do it for me but in the setting of their own office (not a methadone clinic).
So then about a week ago we got a letter in the mail saying: Dear Mr. X, I was sad to hear that Kimberly has been having such trouble with her medication, but I hope she will be successful in the treatment program she decided to go to and I hope you will continue to be a strong support for her.
I understand that she no longer wants my help and is seeking to go to another practice but I still have you in our system as a patient of mine. We will continue to provide you care, if that is what you desire. You will understand that in the setting of your wife’s issue’s with her medications that it is not safe for me to prescribe you an controlled substances but I will be hapy to take care of any other medical needs.
Best wishes to you and your family,
Dr. X
Ok, so didn’t she totally just break HIPPA rules regarding patient privacy? And I am not his wife but his fiance, I don’t know if that matters but either way she can’t just go telling people my business, correct? And now he cannot get his prescription for his Clonazepam which he has been on for 8 years due to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This jeopardizes his health (and all because I decided to get help from a Methadone Clinic instead since Methadone is what my Dr’s used in the past with me successfully) and he has and will seize if he doesn’t take his Klonopin. I know that one can actually die from Benzodiazepine withdrawal and it seems ridiculous that she has cut him off from his medications all because of my situation. The whole situation is insane, its as if she is taking this very personal and trying to retaliate or something. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before and I’d like to know what my rights are and if I have material for a lawsuit even because although my fiance knows about me going to a Methadone Clinic and “having troubles with my medication” it is still breaking confidentiality and it really concerns me. Any advice would be
Thank you so much for your responses, but who exactly do I report her to? like I said, I unfortunately don’t know my rights and well I don’t know what agencies to turn to about this. Thank you sooooooo much though!

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Resolved Question: What do i do about my moms reject of a boyfriend?

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

My moms bf is a complete a**hole! He thinks he is this greatest thing ever. He likes to call me a junkie b/c I am on methadone trying to help myself meanwhile he is eating percoset and Vicodin like theses no tomorrow. But in his head that’s ok b/b he “works”,if u can call it that, to support his habit! He calls me every name in the book but sees nothing wrond with cracking a beer at 8am to wash down his pills! I will be the fisrt to tell u.. yea I was on heroin, but now I’m currently on methadone and going to treatment to help my issues. But to him I am still a loser. He picks the hinge I DON’T do to pick on me about. It makes me sick. But what hurts the most is my mom doesn’t stand up for the good things I do! AND!!! My 4 y/o daughter found a half a Vicodin pill in the couch! Idk why my mother puts up with this shit.. Maybe she is that desperate and afraid to be alone? I have no clue. But me and my daughter are suffering, this man (a**hole) .reds a intervention KR something! There is so much more to his. His childish behaviors, him calling ME a junkie.. idk what to do anymore! HELP!

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Resolved Question: My DRs a real anal retention artist. He’s a child dr & gives Methadone scripts, he knows my history of HEP.C &?

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

sciatica. I look 5m preg with edema, iv been rejected 4 treatment. I’m in agony, how do I persuade this white tight outa site guy who thinks is GODS GIFT TO WOMEN. That I need to no my numbers like cholesterol & my liver. this headaches the worst. I can feel my headache if I push from other side of the scalp

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Voting Question: how do I set up a fund for a recovering addict?

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

My girlfriend has been on methadone treatment the last two years for heroin addiction. The only thing that can possibly help is an Ibogaine treatment which is around 5,000 dollars. Please help, I’m afraid she is going to relapse or overdose soon. I want to set up a fund for her but not sure where to go.

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Resolved Question: How to quit percocets and skip withdraws?

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

Okay, first and foremost I’d like to say that this question is not about me, so please don’t leave negative comments. This is a real question that is affecting someone I love and we don’t know what to do about it. My boyfriend of four years got into a bad car accident 2 years ago, he had several surgeries with many broken bones, and just as we all know, percocets were prescribed to ease the pain. At first all he did was sleep on them, he said that it was great he could sleep right through the recovery process since he was in pain constantly even with the drug. he would sleep, wake up and take another just to go back to sleep. I thought this was fine, he was covered in scars and casts, he would scream in his sleep from “fire” he could feel in his feet (knee surgery). This caused him to take more than his recommended dosage, because the sleepiness and pain killing affect was no longer working as well, so the doctor increased his dosage. He started at 5/325 every 4-6 hours, but his pain would come back before that time frame. So the doctor gave him 10mg/325 4X a day. He is allergic to morphine, and patches made him sick to his stomach. I thought this was normal, and he would be okay. After 2 weeks the doctor started cutting his dosage, at the sixth week he was given a non narcotic pain reliever. He insisted that his pain was still severe and that he needed the opioid, not the other stuff. He went to our PC doctor, and told him what was going on and got another script for percocets. After about six months the PC cut him off, telling him that he needed pain management, that he could no longer prescribe for him. I was elated, because I could see that these drugs that were supposed to help him weren’t, they were turning him into a couch potato, someone with no motivation and someone that seemed severely miserable all the time. He itched constantly, and I noticed that he was taking way more than prescribed when I would find empty bottles that were supposed to last a month and only a week had gone by. I also noticed he was taking the yellow oblong ones, which are 10mg and I know he was only being prescribed 5. When confronted he told me that he was getting them from someone else, that if he didn’t take them the withdraw symptoms were too much to handle and that he was going to wean off them himself, he didn’t need them, he only took them because the “yawns” and the aches, and the depression were too much for him to handle and that he couldn’t function without them. He said he would wean off them himself, by slowly cutting back the dosage until he didn’t need them anymore. At first he was, I noticed he wasn’t taking nearly as many (he was up to 70mg daily so he’s told me), down to about 20mg. But as soon as things would go bad, I mean ANYTHING, a fight between us, bills have him stressed, he cant sleep he pops them like candy. Then he says he has to repeat the “weaning” process. We have both come to terms hes addicted, and I know that he never wanted this. He was successful, he had goals, and he lived life to the fullest. Now all he does is sleep all day, he’s unmotivated, he’s lazy, his work (he’s self employed) has become one of the least of his priorities. He cant seem to concentrate, he admitted to me once that it seems his mind isn’t the same, he’s depressed. I know he wants to stop, he hates it. I see him try, then he cant seem to stop yawning and he’s miserable so he takes one just to make it stop. He refuses to go into treatment, he refuses to go on medication because he says they are just as bad. (methadone he believes they give, although I thought that was for heroine). He keeps saying, “Im gonna stop, I will I don’t need outside help” but its been two years. He is on the inside, he doesn’t see how different he is. Does anyone know how to get off this drug safely? Or any advice for him? Not leave him, this isn’t about me. He wont talk to anyone about it, he wont admit it to anyone. He wants to do it by himself, but now i know he cant. He just cant….

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TIP 40 and 43 Opioid Treatment for Counseling CEUs for LPC and LMHC aka Methadone-HD 720p – AllCEUs Counseling Continuing Education for LPC and LMHC. This course provides a guide to what is commonly referred to as Methadone treatment based on TIP 40 and 43 by SAMHSA. Executive Summary: Research supports the perspective that opioid addiction is a medical disorder that can be treated effectively with medications when they are administered under conditions consistent with their pharmacological efficacy and when treatment includes necessary supportive services such as psychosocial counseling, treatment for co-occurring disorders, medical services, and vocational rehabilitation. Medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction (MAT) has been effective in facilitating recovery from opioid addiction for many patients. This TIP provides a detailed description of MAT, especially in opioid treatment programs (OTPs). MAT includes optional approaches such as comprehensive maintenance treatment, medical maintenance treatment, detoxification, and medically supervised withdrawal. Some or all of these approaches can be provided in OTPs or other settings. With the approval of buprenorphine for physician’s office-based opioid treatment, MAT availability is expected to increase.

Norfolk opiate addiction cases fall

Filed under: Methadone Treatment

Currently 1650 opiate and prescription painkiller addicts are seeking treatment – down from 2153 in 2009/10. Treatment cost using Buprenorph, Naloxone and Methadone has fallen by about £250000 over the same period. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust said …
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