# "Patient Abandonment", the law, and refusal to refill prescriptions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 2, 2012, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557 "2012-04-02T08:52:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/42 "2012-04-04T06:37:58Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Why in the world would this accomplish anything? Terminating your relationship with the practice is what they already want. Shouldn’t you be giving them not what they want? Like, I don’t know, pointing out that patient abandonment is illegal and that if the situation is not resolved promptly the next conversation may be with a lawyer? > > I know **ambushed** isn’t planning on suing, but they don’t know that. Not signing a letter is not going to get them out of refusing to set up an appointment and refusing medical treatment. (It wouldn’t surprise me if the letter was left unsigned so they can deny its existence later > > I would also recommend the OP pursue appointments with every doctor in the area. Not because he’s admitting to having seen the letter, but because he still can’t get the refills to the medicines he needs. I know of at least a couple doctors that will help out in situations like this in my area of the woods, so they may exist in the OP’s area as well. > > Whether illegal in her state or not, I still can’t get past how unethical this behavior is. Any ethical doctor would prescribe the medicines until the termination date. Even if the patient wouldn’t die, it does cause suffering and possible harm. I lament that there will likely be no punishment for this, as I don’t think that any doctor this unethical deserves to practice. And I’d feel the same if the OP were an actual drug seeker > > Sorry I can’t help you with your actual GQ questions, other than to suggest consulting a lawyer in your jurisdiction. (Since no lawyer has weighed in yet, I suspect they think it’s too sticky a situation to get involved in.) Wow, finally! **Huge thanks, BigT!** Even though you couldn’t answer my two main questions, I’m greatly indebted to you for your otherwise perfectly **on point** and very valuable reply. I’m delighted you recognized the key points here! Yesterday (Tuesday), I made an appointment with what I dearly hope to be my new, very well-educated, compassion-award-winning doctor (it’s a meet and greet so that I can be assured she doesn’t have any reluctance to care for me in advance), but she’s out of town for the next ten days or so. As far as getting refills, I haven’t solved that yet but I’m considering asking my kidney specialist (my family too easily forms stones), with whom I have an excellent relationship, if he would be willing to do so until I have a new primary-care doctor. If not, then I’ll try the urgent care/hospital as suggested earlier. But again, **thank you for recognizing the truly egregious ethical and legal violations in this situation!** I think my next step will be to visit one of those online “ask a lawyer” sites. You pose your question, then one or another attorney emails you, giving a price (much lower than what a sit-down appointment would cost) for answering your question, after which you can optionally pursue the situation further. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/43 "2012-04-04T06:43:13Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I’m bowing out of this thread. I have nothing further to say, and apparently got so much wrong that I can’t defend anything I posted. I very much hope I haven’t angered or offended you! Truly, I am very grateful for your replies. Please be assured of that – you’re clearly one sharp person! ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/44 "2012-04-04T06:45:35Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > FYI, the AMA (American Medical Association) is a voluntary-to-join, lobbying and professional association. IIRC, they have no legal or regulatory jurisdiction over their membership. They do have ethics codes and the like but these do not have power in terms of medical licensing; it only affects whether they kick the doctor out of their organization. > > I agree with **BigT** ’s statement that considering the situation, this may not be something that can be resolved over the Internet, and you may need to speak to someone in person about any legal issues. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/45 "2012-04-04T06:47:15Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Well your problem might be you can’t follow even the simplest instructions so that office has no interest in dealing with you. > > This isn’t the place to get legal advice and your questions were moved here because it is against the boards rules to ask for answers that are legal advice, you only get opinions. > > You can swear up and down that you never received that letter ‘because it wasn’t signed’ but it really doesn’t matter at this point because you acknowledge receipt and understanding of the letter. Claiming you never got the letter or that they didn’t inform you they were canceling your care isn’t getting you anywhere. They can prove you were informed. Insulting and useless. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/46 "2012-04-04T06:54:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Haven’t read all the posts so my apologies if this point’s already been raised. But one possibility is that the practice doesn’t have room for the OP. They lost one doctor which means the remaining doctors are presumably all handling more patients. And I’ve been told there are legal limits on how many patients a doctor can carry. I’ve addressed that issue several times now. I specifically told the doctor in my fax that I would completely understand if he did not have room for me, yet he never offered that as an explanation, only that I “needed to see a specialist”, which is bullshit. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As for the OP’s specific question, I’m not a lawyer or a physician but I don’t think there’s any legal requirement that a doctor has to continue treating a patient except in emergency situations. If the doctor decides he doesn’t want a patient, I’d assume all he has to do is give sufficient notice to the patient that they should find another doctor. That’s definitely not true. If you’re interested, see the links I provided [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14929644&postcount=13), where you’ll see that it is indeed illegal to abandon a patient in the way he did in my case, and malpractice lawyers issue dire warnings against what he did. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/47 "2012-04-04T07:09:55Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > Is your goal to be treated by this doctor’s group? Or is this simply a mental exercise in what is wrong vs. what is right or legal? Neither. As I explained elsewhere, I wish to pursue legal action – just short of a lawsuit – against the doctor and the practice for their quite illegal “patient abandonment”, particularly in refusing to refill my vitally necessary regular medications. I posted my OP to General Questions in order to try to get answers to two straightforward General Questions (highlighted in blue, above) that, if I actually knew the answers, would help me determine whether the law was unequivocally violated or not. I didn’t expect _everyone_ to know the answers (though **boytyperanma** ’s juvenile, wrong-headed, and contemptible reply is bullshit in every respect, because I am **NOT** asking for “legal advice”, only the answers to two General Questions that apply not just to me but to anyone throughout the U.S.), but I _was_ hoping _someone_ might know. But it’s perfectly fine that you don’t happen to know, so no worries. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/48 "2012-04-04T07:17:03Z")
> [@Foxy40](#): > > Since I send out these types of letters on a regular basis I will try to help you. > > 1. As far as the legality of the letter. The point of the letter is to advise you to find another physician as they are no longer willing to treat you. If you happen to drop dead on the 31st day because you refused to accept the letter and didn’t attempt to find care elsewhere, perhaps you would have a case of abandonment. Otherwise, that shouldn’t even be an issue to you. You can not go back and demand to be seen. > > 2. They are obligated to refill your medication for those 30 days. You were a little vague regarding whether or not they did so. Usually I will send a prescription with the letter for the next 30 days if there weren’t refills left. (Unless they are narcotic pain relievers). > > 3. I feel like you want reasons and it is likely you won’t get them so simply find another doctor. I discharge patients because we are a specialty practice and we don’t do long term care but refer people back to their primary. I discharge them when they are on long term pain medications because we aren’t a pain clinic. I discharge them when they fail drug tests. I discharge them when they are rude to my staff. I discharge them for non payment of fees. I discharge them when they fail to keep appointments. Sometimes we discharge them simply because they have personalities that conflict with their provider for whatever reason. > > If it is a private office, they have no obligation to keep you whether or not your regular doctor was still alive. They are obligated to give you enough time to find someone else and treat you for a reasonable time until you do. > > Saying to yourself that the letter isn’t valid might make you feel better but in the end, it makes no difference. You have been discharged, request a records transfer and move on. And no, you aren’t entitled to the original records. They belong to the practice but you ARE entitled to a copy of all your medical information at a reasonable copy and mailing price. Thank you, but what you say contradicts what is reported in the links I’ve provided. Perhaps you aren’t adequately familiar with the laws in this regard. It is indeed quite illegal to abandon a patient in the way I was. Whether I could win a lawsuit based on the limited damages I have suffered as a result is certainly very doubtful, but a lawsuit is far from the only legal remedy I have. As for the letter being unsigned, every bit of information I can find **definitively** asserts that an unsigned letter is no letter at all. This matters very much indeed because, until I receive a signed, legally binding letter of termination, the 30-day period doesn’t even _ **begin** _, let alone expire! Thus, the patient abandonment gets more and more harmful over time. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/49 "2012-04-04T07:19:25Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > He’s not saying he’s going to claim he never received it. > > He’s asking if the net effect of the letter, unsigned, is AS IF, he was never sent such a letter. It has no effect unsigned, so it’s AS IF the practice just dropped him. > > I don’t know the answer, but I can imagine the question: Is an unsigned letter enforceable? having a concrete answer. I don’t know what the answer is, though. **Exactly!** Thank you, _thank you_, **thank you** wise and perceptive sir or madam! ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/50 "2012-04-04T07:21:26Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > Shouldn’t you be spending your time and energy finding another doctor asap rather than wasting time splitting hairs about your old doctor’s office? Shouldn’t you be reading the thread far more carefully rather than making up crap to insult me with? ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/51 "2012-04-04T07:26:11Z")
> [@Foxy40](#): > > As I look up, it appears they are ignoring your pharmacists phone calls. If the medication is life and death, it is the office’s best interest to refill it due to liability concerns if something should happen to you. When I said obligated I meant in reference to acceptable standards of care. In my state, there is no LEGAL obligation. It is the CYA protocol that most follow. If you are on medications like allergy pills or migraine medication or other “improve the quality of life” medications, they probably don’t have to refill them but there may be different laws in your state. The pharmacy has sent several faxes to the office and made several follow-up phone calls, but no refills have been provided. My friend the pharmacist has pursued this as his mission, and is utterly outraged at their egregiously despicable behavior. There is no legal or ethical difference between “ignoring” refill requests and deliberately ensuring that my health suffers substantially. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/52 "2012-04-04T07:27:51Z")
> [@ZooHoot](#): > > I was terminated by a practice. I got a certified letter. I assume signing for it, meant the practice then had it on record they got my letter. My letter told me they would see me only for an emergency in the next 30 days, and that was it. > > A doctor can refuse refills for almost any reason, so I doubt the practice is doing anything illegal. I would think that insurance probably is the reason. It’s not an insurance issue. How many times do I have to relate that? ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/53 "2012-04-04T07:29:13Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > What I’m getting from this so far is that > > -It’s not illegal for a doctor to drop a patient without reason, with a 30 day notice. So, signed or not, the letter doesn’t even matter. > -The office is required to continue care until the 30 days are up, including meds. > > If it were me, I’d concentrate on getting those meds, make the office DO ITS JOB until time runs out, and give up on the office. Get copies of your files and walk away. Except for the unsigned letter aspect, that’s my plan. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/54 "2012-04-04T10:41:53Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > Shouldn’t you be reading the thread far more carefully rather than making up crap to insult me with? I get that this is stressful for you, but not only was there nothing insulting in the post that you quoted but it was also very good advice. Someone gave me similar advice once when a company laid me off for reasons I didn’t agree with. It became clear during discussions that they just didn’t want me around any more (it was a consultancy that I had been moved to in a group-wide reshuffle and the company’s focus wasn’t exactly my skill set) and whilst I scrambled to try and keep my job someone said to me “do you really want to work for someone that really doesn’t want to employ you?” I’d remix that question for you. Do you really want a medical practice that doesn’t want you as a patient? Honestly, moving elsewhere really sounds like the best option. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/55 "2012-04-04T12:59:50Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I get that this is stressful for you, but not only was there nothing insulting in the post that you quoted but it was also very good advice. > > Someone gave me similar advice once when a company laid me off for reasons I didn’t agree with. It became clear during discussions that they just didn’t want me around any more (it was a consultancy that I had been moved to in a group-wide reshuffle and the company’s focus wasn’t exactly my skill set) and whilst I scrambled to try and keep my job someone said to me “do you really want to work for someone that really doesn’t want to employ you?” > > I’d remix that question for you. Do you really want a medical practice that doesn’t want you as a patient? > > Honestly, moving elsewhere really sounds like the best option. I don’t really see a lot of sense in making a big “mission” out of fighting back against this medical practice, when you could use that effort to seek out a doctor who you like and who also wants to see you. It just sounds like a lot of unnecessary stress for very, very little reward. If you were bleeding out of all orifices then yes you could force them to see you and it would be monstrously evil if they didn’t see you. For routine refill requests, well, you can probably get in to see another provider who actually doesn’t hate you by the time you manage to “prove a point” to these people. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/56 "2012-04-04T14:16:57Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > I received two copies of the same unsigned letter, one via conventional mail and the other via certified mail with return receipt, **precisely as my readings about patient termination laws from professional web sites (like the AMA) repeatedly advise doctors to do when terminating a patient**. Also, the day after my fax (on Friday), I received a voice-mail message asking me to call the group’s office manager. I could not call until the following Monday (after receiving the letters on Saturday), and when I did she confirmed the termination by the doctor I mentioned in my fax. Bolding added. I don’t see what the practice did wrong, legally. You got two copies of the letter and spoke to the office manager, who confirmed exactly what the letters said. The fact that the letter is signed by the whole practice, in effect, I don’t believe is meaningful. The doctor who would have terminated you is dead, if I understand your OP. He cannot sign the letter, therefore, so the letter came from the whole practice. IANAL, but I doubt you have much of a case. Nor do I see what you want to accomplish with your “everything short of a lawsuit”. > [@](#): > > Now, I don’t know how to convince you I’m not some kind of “problem patient”, such as being non-compliant or abusive or drug-seeking or drug-abusing or unwilling or unable to pay or rude or psychologically unstable or whatever. If you did want to convince us, your posts to this thread, and your description of your actions, are not a good start. > [@](#): > > I have not sent in the form, because to do so would legally represent my tacit acceptance of my receipt of a legally binding letter I don’t think it matters. You got it via registered mail, and you told the office manager specifically that you received it. And again, I doubt that the letter being signed on behalf of the whole practice is going to make any difference. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/57 "2012-04-04T14:30:59Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > Except for the unsigned letter aspect, that’s my plan. So, if you took the letter into their office and someone scribbled a john hancock on it, you’d be happy? ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/58 "2012-04-04T14:34:06Z")
> [@ambushed](#): > > Thank you, but what you say contradicts what is reported in the links I’ve provided. Perhaps you aren’t adequately familiar with the laws in this regard. It is indeed quite illegal to abandon a patient in the way I was. Whether I could win a lawsuit based on the limited damages I have suffered as a result is certainly very doubtful, but a lawsuit is far from the only legal remedy I have. > > As for the letter being unsigned, every bit of information I can find **definitively** asserts that an unsigned letter is no letter at all. This matters very much indeed because, until I receive a signed, legally binding letter of termination, the 30-day period doesn’t even _ **begin** _, let alone expire! Thus, the patient abandonment gets more and more harmful over time. I have no idea why you keep insisting this is illegal. I seems you want it so bad to be true that you’re confusing possible unethical with illegal. There isn’t a physician in this country that has to treat you for a routine follow up. They have discharged you. They have offered to treat you within the 30 days in the event of an emergency. The only problems regarding the prescription refills I can see is if the medications are something that 1. Could cause you withdrawal symptoms 2. You need them to remain healthy. Spend your money on a lawyer site. They will tell you the exact same thing. There is no law against discharging a patient in no imminent danger whether the notification is an unsigned letter or carrier pigeon. Liability issues, perhaps if something happens to you, illegal, no. You haven’t said what they are for. I could be wrong and maybe giving the doctor’s office a knee jerk benefit of the doubt but I suspect they are quality of life medication and not medically necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/59 "2012-04-04T14:39:13Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I don’t really see a lot of sense in making a big “mission” out of fighting back against this medical practice, when you could use that effort to seek out a doctor who you like and who also wants to see you. It just sounds like a lot of unnecessary stress for very, very little reward. > If you were bleeding out of all orifices then yes you could force them to see you and it would be monstrously evil if they didn’t see you. For routine refill requests, well, you can probably get in to see another provider who actually doesn’t hate you by the time you manage to “prove a point” to these people. I think it is as simple as his feelings were hurt and he is trying to get some kind of payback to make himself feel better. It is his time and money so if making a mountain out of a molehill with little or no reward helps him, I guess he should go for it. However, I am beginning to suspect his discharge had something to do with a personality conflict with the staff. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/60 "2012-04-04T15:05:06Z")
**Ambushed** , I’m having trouble reconciling this: > [@ambushed](#): > > On Saturday, I received a rude and icily abrupt certified letter from the group throwing me out of the practice! No consultation, no discussion, no explanations, just immediate **termination with _extreme_ prejudice**. With this: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Unnamed Doctor > > I will no longer be able to serve as your physician. > > If you require medical attention in the future please contact [county medical society] > > I will be available to treat you on an emergency basis only until April 16, 2012. This will give you time to find a new physician. Enclosed is an authorization form that permits me to send your new physician a copy of you medical records. Please complete the form and return it to me. > Sincerely yours, > > [NO SIGNATURE] Two pleases. One sincerely. A timetable for your information and a form that will assist in the smooth transfer of records. That doesn’t seem to be “ **termination with \*extreme \*prejudice!** ” to me. No. It doesn’t state why they’re no longer treating you. Perhaps you already know. Or perhaps you will find out in the future. But then, with the above as an example of how facts get contorted in the retelling, I doubt that we the board will ever get the full story on this situation. It’s what they call in fiction the unreliable narrator. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557/61 "2012-04-04T15:33:00Z")
> [@Foxy40](#): > > I have no idea why you keep insisting this is illegal. I seems you want it so bad to be true that you’re confusing possible unethical with illegal. There isn’t a physician in this country that has to treat you for a routine follow up. They have discharged you. They have offered to treat you within the 30 days in the event of an emergency. The only problems regarding the prescription refills I can see is if the medications are something that 1. Could cause you withdrawal symptoms 2. You need them to remain healthy. > > Spend your money on a lawyer site. They will tell you the exact same thing. There is no law against discharging a patient in no imminent danger whether the notification is an unsigned letter or carrier pigeon. Liability issues, perhaps if something happens to you, illegal, no. > > You haven’t said what they are for. I could be wrong and maybe giving the doctor’s office a knee jerk benefit of the doubt but I suspect they are quality of life medication and not medically necessary. Agreed. I went through your links, and other than the question about the prescriptions and how medically necessary they might be - and my husband’s own doctor will refuse to refill some prescriptions without another visit first - there does not appear to be any legal issue here as far as I can tell. Ethics, **perhaps** , but that’s hard to tell considering the limited information we have to go on. They made every effort to inform you. They gave you sufficient notice. You are not being discharged during a critical phase in your healthcare. Their practice is short one physician and may, upon further analysis by their doctors and staff, be unable to continue seeing non-critical patients from the deceased physician’s patient load. Your particular case may be, for reasons not perceived/not disclosed by you, be unsuitable for care at their practice. I may have missed this in the floods of posts by you - have you called the doctors’ office to inquire why your prescriptions have not been refilled? Assure them that you are out and that you only want a 30 day supply, with no extra refills, to tide you over. And if you haven’t already, I must emphasize that you need to work fulltime on finding another doctor and getting a follow up appointment. Like, starting the day you were informed that you would no longer be seen by their practice. Most doctors will want to see you first before refilling any ongoing prescriptions, and it will almost certainly be difficult to be seen in time if you don’t move on this. Finally, let me theoretically suggest alternative explanations. It is theoretically possible that regardless of your medical conditions being “stable,” they determined that the physician in question really should have referred you to a specialist anyway. I have seen specialists at times for years for ongoing but stable medical problems. It is theoretically possible that the remaining physicians and staff are a bunch of assholes who like to fire paying patients who have no issues with non-compliance, drug seeking, or behavioral/personality issues. It is theoretically possible that the doctors and staff thought they could handle the old doctor’s workload but upon reassessing the situation, discovered they could not, and are referring out the more complex cases. It is theoretically possible that your behavior or personality has been distressing enough to the staff that they are using this opportunity to offload you as a patient using a plausible reason (specialist) and that your old doctor was sufficiently tolerant/ignorant/dismissive of said behavior that he never confronted you about it, but the other doctors won’t tolerate it. Using examples that surely have no possible bearing on your case: I’ve seen patients who were utterly dismissive assholes to techs but sweet as pie when the doctor was in the room. I’ve seen patients who don’t want a non-white tech doing their work-up but don’t explicitly mention the reason; they just “coincidentally” happen to like all the white techs and find some meaningless fault with every non-white one. I’ve heard about plenty of “dirty old men” who make just barely appropriate comments about the female tech’s looks and try to accidentally-on-purpose bump into/brush against them in not-quite sexual ways at each visit (I can think of maybe a couple times I’ve ever bumped into a female patient, or a polite male patient), to the point where the techs worry about escalation and will try to only enter the room with another staff member present. More recently, we saw a case where the patient in question will swear up and down that one of our physicians didn’t listen to his concerns, was dismissive and just in a hurry to move on to the next patient, scheduled unnecessary procedures, etc. The reality of it was that he was abusive to the staff and physician, concealed that he required a particular medical treatment before his surgery and hadn’t had it done, resisted undergoing treatments to rectify the situation but expected to just be magically “better” and obviously his not being such was the fault of our doctor, and so on. I’m sure he feels he’s right and he knows best. That doesn’t fix the situation he’s in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patient-abandonment-the-law-and-refusal-to-refill-prescriptions/617557.md?page=4)