Holding Birth Control Hostage

[xchrom]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/doctors-holding-birth-control-hostage



Recently, my doctor gave me an ultimatum: Come in for a pelvic exam, or I won't refill your birth control pills. The problem arose after I tried to get my prescription refilled before going on vacation in March, only to be told that the doctor's office wouldn't sign off on the refill because it had been a year and one month since I'd had an annual exam and a Pap smear. A nurse grudgingly gave me a monthlong reprieve if I promised to come in for an exam when I returned from my trip.

I really, really didn't want to go in for an exam. I've had two kids, a false positive Pap test and all the ensuing misery that comes with it, and spent enough time in the stirrups to last a lifetime. All I really wanted were my pills; I was pretty sure the exam could wait another year or more.

The science was on my side.

Just a few weeks earlier, the US Preventative Services Task Force, an independent group of national experts that makes evidence-based health care recommendations, released new guidelines declaring definitively that women over 30 don't need a Pap smear more than once every three years unless they have a couple of risk factors, which I don't have. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that birth control pills can safely be prescribed without a full-on exam.

[Chemisse]

1. I think all kinds of doctors do this.

I tried to get new prescriptions for my son, but they wouldn't do it until he went in for a visit (since it had been a year).

This must be a huge problem for people without insurance.

[xchrom]

2. Indeed. I have similar experiences.

Of course this particularly timely.

And it takes a lot of time to see a doctor any more.

[hedgehog]

3. it may well be that doctors must see the patient

at least once a year before renewing any prescription - I've found that to be true for all kinds of scripts for chronic conditions. It makes sense - it would be irresponsible for the doctor to keep prescribing the medication without knowing if hour health status has changed. That said, an internal exam and Pap smear may be unneeded and even inappropriate to determine if a birth control script can be renewed. I would think that checking blood pressure and reviewing other meds to ensure the patient isn't taking something that interacts with the hormone pills would be far more relevant!