# I tried to save a life, and all I got was this

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tried-to-save-a-life-and-all-i-got-was-this/160228>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [March 10, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tried-to-save-a-life-and-all-i-got-was-this/160228 "2003-03-10T04:30:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![kspharm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kspharm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kspharm)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-tried-to-save-a-life-and-all-i-got-was-this/160228/41 "2003-03-14T07:42:27Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Hinten \*  
> \*\*My doctor friends always say that you could replace every pharmacist with trained monkeys; same or better results.
> 
> You caught an idiot doctor who made a wrong and potentially deadly decision and use that as an argument that doctors in general require pharmicists to do their jobs right.  
> I wonder how many pharmacists have caused fatal and potential fatal situations. Let me use that anecdotal assumption as a reason for a rant that asks for pharmacist replacement by monkeys.  
> Better yet, replace them with robots/computers that have fail-safe build in (that’s what you are using as a reason for pharmacists to exist: second level check for erroneous prescriptions). \*\*

??? WTF ???

What are you talking about? Where in any of my posts in this thread did I make an argument of that sort? I don’t think that “doctors in general require pharmicists (sic) to do their jobs right”, I think that pharmacists and society at large require that as well. If you want your prescription filled by a trained monkey, more power to you. You don’t know what the drug does, looks like, or which other meds it may interact with - and neither does that trained monkey (unless he is really smart). Oh, and also, some times, neither does the doctor who prescribed it to you. Really, really, not trying to rip on physicians, but I have found that when I get rx’s called in by someone unfamiliar with the patient and have absolutely no idea what they are doing - the pharmacist (or trained monkey) is that patient’s last check. Two quick examples - pt called yesterday saying she was allergic to a certain anti-inflammatory, her doctor had asked her to ask her pharmacist which other anti-inflammatory she could take safely, then when the pt reported back, the doc’s receptionist called in a new rx (the doctor had never prescribed that drug and was so unfamiliar with it that dosing and directions were left up to me). Then, an opthamologist’s nurse called in a steroid eye drop for a pt without knowing what the name of the drug was and the strength, directions, or duration of treatment. **Hinten** , I don’t know what you were told, but trust me, it ain’t that easy to get a degree in pharmacy in the U.S., and your friendly neighborhood pharmacist has had a lot of training in pharmacology, patient counseling, pharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, as well as therapeutics.

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