Friday, November 4, 2005
"No such thing as extended release..."
This is the third time I've had "extended release" problems with medication prescriptions; the second time the problem involved being told by a doctor Mom would be getting an "extended release" version of a medication that doesn't exist. Each of the three episodes has involved a different doctor.
This time Mom's doctor told me he would be prescribing an "extended release" 10 mg tablet of lisinopril for Mom to take once a day. When I called the pharmacy to ask some questions about the prescription and referred to it as "the extended release version" the pharmacist flatly told me that there is no such thing, yet, for lisinopril.
"Really. Interesting. That's the second time in a couple of years I've had a pharmacist tell me that information I got from a doctor about a medication was wrong."
Short silence. "Well, I don't know what to say. All I can tell you is that lisinopril does not come in an extended release form, generic or by brand."
See, the thing is, I think doctors know, for instance when a particular medication is not available in an extended release form. I think doctors are still in the habit of lying to their patients and patient advocates in order to promote a type of placebo/self-hypnotic effect in a particular direction within the patient. The problem is, now that people are doing more medical research on their own behalf and much more information is being made available for laypeople to do this, doctors are now going to have to deal with the effect of patients' reactions to medications and procedures when the patient knows the doctor has been lying to them.
Guys, it's time to come out of your god-closets and step up to the medical plate. Your patients and their advocates are waiting for you...
...later.
This time Mom's doctor told me he would be prescribing an "extended release" 10 mg tablet of lisinopril for Mom to take once a day. When I called the pharmacy to ask some questions about the prescription and referred to it as "the extended release version" the pharmacist flatly told me that there is no such thing, yet, for lisinopril.
"Really. Interesting. That's the second time in a couple of years I've had a pharmacist tell me that information I got from a doctor about a medication was wrong."
Short silence. "Well, I don't know what to say. All I can tell you is that lisinopril does not come in an extended release form, generic or by brand."
See, the thing is, I think doctors know, for instance when a particular medication is not available in an extended release form. I think doctors are still in the habit of lying to their patients and patient advocates in order to promote a type of placebo/self-hypnotic effect in a particular direction within the patient. The problem is, now that people are doing more medical research on their own behalf and much more information is being made available for laypeople to do this, doctors are now going to have to deal with the effect of patients' reactions to medications and procedures when the patient knows the doctor has been lying to them.
Guys, it's time to come out of your god-closets and step up to the medical plate. Your patients and their advocates are waiting for you...
...later.
