I am FURIOUS with my mother's doctor!

[MorningGlow]

:grr: I can't even begin to express how pissed off I am. :grr:

My mom has a cold with a bad cough, courtesy of my son, who brought the plague to the family from the germ factory, otherwise known as kindergarten. She went to the doctor for another matter yesterday, and he also gave her an antibiotic for her cold/cough to prevent her from developing bronchitis or pneumonia. Makes sense, as she's 83--can't mess around with that sort of stuff. Fine.

She came to our house and brought the first antibiotic to take when she ate lunch. It was one pill (prescription was one a day for six days)--Avelox. Within 45 minutes of taking it, she vomited violently and also had (ahem) other issues. While she was recovering, we talked about how some antibiotics are too strong for some people and that probably caused the vomiting, but I wasn't sure if it could also cause her (ahem) other issues.

She called the doctor, and instead of calling in a milder prescription, he said that since she vomited it up, to wait a few hours and take another one.

:wtf:

My bullshit detector went off, so of course I went visiting the intertubes. OMG. This antibiotic is one of the ones that has a black box warning from the FDA. It's of the same class as Cipro and is to be used ONLY when all other antibiotics fail. It's THAT high risk. Not only can it cause vomiting and (ahem) other issues, it also has a laundry list of other side effects, some permanent after taking only a few doses. And this idiot of an m.d. gave it to my 83YO mother who has a COUGH?!

Oh yeah--the best part--not to be taken by anyone who has fibromyalgia, polymyalgia, or any other joint/rheumatoid problems. My mother has polymyalgia. Contraindications: prednisone. GUESS what my mother takes for her polymyalgia.

If my mother hadn't begged me not to, I would have gotten on the phone and screamed bloody murder at the doctor. I realize that doctors don't have time to learn everything about every single medication on the market, but to toss a senior citizen free samples of such a strong antibiotic without knowing the hazards--of a BLACK BOX WARNING DRUG--sorry, but I think that borders on negligence or malpractice.

Am I overreacting? :shrug:

[crim son]

1. Un, no.

At the very least the doctor should be responsible for looking at drug interactions. Mom needs a new doctor, IMHO. That's a pretty serious mistake.

[MorningGlow]

3. Thanks. That's what I thought.

A quick look at the PDR should suffice in a situation like this, if he's just gotten the samples, no?

BTW, I think free samples are work of the devil. No offense to any pharmaceutical reps here, but damn--if you've got a lazy doc like this guy, it's too easy to pass off something dangerous to the wrong patient.

[Lincolngirl]

11. 1 good reason for samples

Just an add in,
I am on a very expensive Antidepressant, and my Dr. gives them to me because I have no insurance.
Dr's need to know what they are giving people, and this sounds like a very irresponsible doc.

OP, you should be pissed. Would have been insane with anger.

Good luck to your mom.

[MorningGlow]

15. Delete--dupe

[MorningGlow]

16. Yes, you're right about that

I have gotten free samples from my holistic m.d., which helps me do an end-run around my meddling HMO that won't recognize her or her scrips because she's not "on their list". So yes, in the right hands, they can be helpful.

Unfortunately, I'm not trusting this doctor much.

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm glad her body didn't process the medication. Who knows what kind of other reactions she might have had...

[Lincolngirl]

22. A good point

Her body rejected it. Good thing you both didn't listen to this Dr.

[crim son]

14. The only virtue of free samples is the fact that they can be given

to poor patients. But yes, it should be obvious to any medical professional that one does not hand out drugs as if they were candy.

My father is a retired physician and I think I can say for sure, they don't make 'em like they used to. Doctors these days are sometimes like trained monkeys. The patient must look out for her/himself. Good for you for helping your mother.

[MorningGlow]

19. Too true, CS

I have many, many tales of drama myself, running into dismissive doctors when I was trying to get help for my thyroid problem. I learned then never to trust doctors implicitly, be your own advocate, and fight tooth and nail for proper treatment. So now I do that for everyone in my family. It's a shame the profession has come to this. My senior citizen relatives don't dare say "boo" to their doctors, because they're used to the era when doctors COULD be trusted. No longer, sadly--it's hard to find doctors you don't have to second guess.

[XemaSab]

2. You're totally not overreacting

I would call him up and read him the RIOT ACT.

The wrong drug can be fatal.

Signed,

Someone who once got the wrong drug and almost died. :(

[MorningGlow]

6. I'm still inclined to

This happened yesterday and I haven't calmed down yet.

I'm just grateful her body rejected it before it could do serious damage.


Sorry you went through something similar--what happened?

[XemaSab]

10. Long story short:

I went to the ER for an asthma attack.

I told the doctor I didn't feel well and he didn't believe me.

After 6 hours of me telling him I didn't feel well, he decided I was having an ANXIETY attack and gave me ativan.

He then had me wheeled off to the wards, and on the way there I went into respiratory arrest and had to be resuscitated.

Yes, in the PDR it says in BIG LETTERS: "DON'T GIVE TO PATIENTS IN RESPIRATORY DISTRESS." :o

[MorningGlow]

17. Wow!

That's horrible, XemaSab! That could have turned out...so much worse... :scared:

[XemaSab]

20. Yeah it could have

The take home message: doctors screw up.

[MorningGlow]

31. Sometimes too frequently for my liking!

My holistic m.d. is great, and I'm hanging onto her even though I have to pay for the office visits. I have a doctor who's "acceptable" to my HMO but I never see him. He might be good, but he might not. I'm a little gun shy about finding out.

[siligut]

4. You are not overreacting.

Thanks are to you for looking this up and reading the side effects and drug interactions. Has your mother had bronchitis or pneumonia before?

[MorningGlow]

7. No, she's never had either

Luckily she's physically very strong, even with her polymyalgia.

[siligut]

13. Chicken soup, lots of garlic, deep breaths.

In that case, I wonder if doc was just trying to justify the visit. That is an irresponsible use of antibiotics, for anyone, not just your mother. Antibiotics can cause all sorts of intestinal problems, mainly by killing off all of the good bacteria. Comfort your mother; it is very upsetting to have the other problem she had besides nausea. Yogurt can help restore the natural intestinal flora.

[MorningGlow]

18. She did have a legit reason for going

She initially went to him because she fell and bruised her tailbone, but she was curious as to whether she may have cracked it, so he ordered X-rays. Definitely not a frivolous visit. Also, he can check on her polymyalgia whenever she goes to see him.

She says she feels fine now except for the cough. She's a little worried about his bronchitis/pneumonia warning, especially as he didn't call in another scrip to the pharmacy before the weekend. I told her waiting till Monday for a scrip won't kill her...although that other antibiotic might have.
:scared:

[siligut]

21. Oh damn.

He is the one treating her for the polymyalgia? I agree with the others, new doc in order here. Waiting until Monday won’t hurt at all. I even wonder if she needs an antibiotic. If she has never had bronchitis or pneumonia, she really isn’t that susceptible. I wasn’t insinuating that the visit was frivolous. Hope her coccyx is alright, poor thing, that can really hurt.

Again, good on you MorningGlow!

[MorningGlow]

25. Oh, no worries

I know what you meant! :) (I realized after I posted that my reply might have sounded a bit harsh--sorry about that!) And I agree--sometimes doctors feel like they need to "take action" so they have something concrete to write down on their report for the HMO on "how they used their time". If I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, I'd say he prescribed an antibiotic because of her age, and I'm sure he was thinking of that. Unfortunately he wasn't thinking much else!

You know what else? He sent her to a specialist for her polymyalgia, and that doctor thinks she doesn't have it! Yet again, I say :wtf:

This could all be moot in the near future anyway--she doesn't like him much, and he's moving more into the realm of a "medical spa" (not sure exactly what that is, but he's advertising the hell out of it), and she's said she'd rather have a doctor who was more interested in practicing medicine and healing people. She's only stayed with him this long because she doesn't know of any good doc to sign on with. They are hard to find...

[TZ]

5. Not overacting but I'm curious

Does she get all her scripts from the same pharmacy? A lot of them have computers that are supposed to flag stuff like this...So its kind of a failure on two ends, if she's getting all her meds from the same pharmacy..
I wonder if the doctor meant to prescribe something else and wrote it down wrong? Sounds like a new doc is needed whatever the case.

Edit: I see he had it in his office.WTF? I'm sorry but I've never seen a doctor that had "free samples" of antibiotics, especially black box antibiotics in their office.
As for free samples..they were godsends for me when I had NO health insurance.
Somethings fishy here. Sounds like he was trying to get rid of the drugs he had.

[MorningGlow]

8. Doc tossed her free samples

Which, I just posted upthread, I think are the work of the devil. They make it too easy for lazy docs to screw up, just like this.

[TZ]

9. read my edit

This doesn't sound like laziness--this sounds like malfeasance. As I said, I've NEVER seen free samples of antibiotics..especially something similar to Cipro. That stuff should be under better control.

[MorningGlow]

12. Yeah, it shocked me too

I have gotten a fairly strong antibiotic for my bronchitis free from my doctor, and I will admit it was pretty handy, as my HMO would have given me grief if she had written a scrip (she's a holistic m.d. and "not on their list" so they won't recognize her scrips for coverage etc.) But something this dangerous? That does shock me.

[FloridaJudy]

23. I used to see them all the time

Especially the high-priced stuff, like Zithromax and Augmentin. I loved free samples, because I worked in a Public Health Department, and none of my clients could afford prescriptions. But I didn't just hand them out at random: I made sure I was thoroughly familiar with the med before giving it out.

That said, anyone can make a mistake. What worries me more is that the doc just told the patient to take another dose when she had a bad reaction to the first. That would have sent me running to the PDR, followed by an "Oops!" and a hearty apology.

I'd urge your mom to change doctors.

[MorningGlow]

26. My mom mocks the intertubes, but they just saved her hide

If we hadn't found that information about side effects and contraindications, she would have taken that second dose and likely had more severe reactions, home alone, after his office was closed. That thought really makes me :grr:

She's been wanting to change docs for a while now; she just doesn't know of a good one to hook up with. I think she should step up her search before this one kills her. :scared:

[FloridaJudy]

40. Ask a nurse

For a recommendation. Believe me, we know who's good and who's a disaster looking for a place to happen. We might be reticent about the bad docs, but we'll happily tell you who the good guys (and gals) are.

[TZ]

36. I'm sorry but while I can understand how helpful that can be..

I am surprised we don't hear more about this! I really think its better to have a electronic record of all one's scripts to avoid the near disaster MG's mother experienced.

[susanna]

43. I received some "sample" antibiotics once...

...after I had a serious reaction to a penicillin-based prescription. To make a long story short, it was not the doc's fault; I had never been allergic to penicillin when younger, and said so on all my initial paperwork years before. However, I had not taken it in about twenty years, nor had I needed to. I needed to at that time because of a massive bacterial infection in the ears (caught from a pre-school nephew with all the kids' new-fangled germs). Well, I took my pen scrip for three days - at that point, I swelled up like a balloon, hives all over my body, the whole nine yards. Luckily my throat didn't close up. Scary experience.

So I went back to the doctor who gave it to me, and he passed along a very strong penicillin alternative via samples. So it does happen. :-(

on edit: grammar

[NickB79]

44. My fiance was given a week's worth of free samples of antibiotics this spring

She came down with influenza, which progressed into a bacterial infection. I forget what they were exactly, but my fiance says they were fairly powerful and expensive (she's a pharmacy tech). They also had her use a nebulizer for 15 minutes as well. I think the doctor overheard us worrying about how we would pay for any medication without health insurance.

[csziggy]

45. My doctor used to give me samples of the latest antibiotics

But since he had treated me for years, knew all the scripts I was on and double checked everything, it was not a problem. The reason he gave me the samples was that 1) I had no health insurance and 2) I had a recurring antibiotic resistant infection. He kept track of which meds had failed in the past and what new ones were likely to knock it out.

Eventually, he dosed me with Cipro - this was after the infection got away from us twice and got into my lymph system. So far, the infection has not recurred. I don't know what we'll do if it does...

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. I was given free samples of erythromycin (sp) but that was in the 80s. Nor

sure if they still do that now that we know about Super Bugs.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. Not at all!

That's horribly irresponsible, in my opinion!

I hope your mom is feeling better soon. :hug:

[MorningGlow]

28. Thanks, Goddess

:hug:

She felt pretty good as soon as her body got rid of the drug; now she just has to tackle that cough.

[Haole Girl]

27. No, you are not overreacting

Sounds like she needs a new doc-- STAT!

[MorningGlow]

29. Too right

She's been talking about switching to someone new for a while now. This should really convince her!

[AwakeAtLast]

30. She needs to get a new doctor, stat!

There is no excuse for that whatsoever. If I were her, my second call would be to a lawyer.

So sorry she had to go through that! :hug:

[MorningGlow]

32. I was wondering if this veers into malpractice

Not that I'm lawsuit happy or anything, and I sure don't know what is considered negligence or malpractice or what have you, but this "mistake" was a whopper!

[AwakeAtLast]

34. It was, no doubt about it.

I think contacting a lawyer would give information about IF you would have a case.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[BrklynLiberal]

37. Defintiley a new doctor...and just to shake him up a bit so he won't do it again..a lawyer's letter

You don't have to sue....just have a letter sent stating that you are seeking legal advice about malpractice.

[Minimus]

38. I cannot believe he gave her Avelox - my Dr is very conservative

with antibiotics. She hardly ever prescribes them unless there is green phlegm and fever involved. Too many antibotics have made resistant strains of bacteria.

I would call the office on Monday at ask why he felt she needed such a strong medicine and talk to him about the contraindication with the prednisone.

I hope your Mom feels better soon.

[MorningGlow]

39. Thanks, Minimus

She is doing quite well, considering. I talked to her today and she promised to at least let him know about the contraindications with prednisone, but I'm not sure she'll really do it. Not to mention that my phone call would be much more...um...strongly stated, let's say!

[Capn Sunshine]

41. Cipro is high risk?

It was the only thing that worked on anthrax

[MorningGlow]

46. Right--these are hardcore drugs with many risks

I'm no expert by any means, but from what I read the other day, they're a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones--to be given only as a last resort.

According to one site (http://www.fqresearch.org), "adverse reactions include Spontaneous Tendon Ruptures, Toxic Psychosis, Insomnia, Anxiety Attacks, Irreversible Peripheral Neuropathy, Hypoglycemia, Liver Failure, Heart Failure, Fatal Reactions, Vision and Hearing Loss, DNA Damage, Kidney Failure, Skin Damage, Brain Damage, Stephen Johnson Syndrome, Blood Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Rashes, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, Phototoxicity, Burning Pain, Joint and Tendon Damage, Strokes and Aneurysms."
FUN! :scared:

[aePrime]

42. No doctor should give antibiotics for any cold

Aside from potentially giving her the wrong antibiotic, antibiotics should not be giving for colds at all.

Colds are caused by viruses, on which antibiotics have no affect. Antibiotics shouldn't be prescribed until there is proof that there is a bacterial infection. Even then, the body can usually take care of it by itself given time (I would understand prescribing in your mother's case). This over-prescription of antibiotics is part of the reason we are seeing a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

If your doctor tries to give you antibiotics for a viral infection (including colds), please tell him or her, "No, thanks".