Nurse Asked to Buy My Vicodin

Is her name Jackie?

JK. In all seriousness, report her. This may be what she needs to get help. Trust me, I know from experience.

http://www.aapsonline.org/painman/paeyappeal.pdf

According to this, a pharmacist contacted the police based on suspicious activity. As evidence was found in his home (blank prescription pad, among others), and they obtained probable cause through investigating and interviewing before getting their search warrant, the police did not do anything wrong. I'd like to see you address the fact that he had blank prescription pads. As a graduate of law school, I would laugh myself silly if you try to say he didn't know that's illegal. It also lends credence to a pharmacist turning him in--if he was submitting iffy prescriptions, a pharmacist isn't obligated to protect that because the person is attempting to involve the pharmacy in a crime. If I told my doctor I was addicted to crack, he can't do anything about it unless I'm endangering children or tell him I am about to harm someone or myself. If I go to the pharmacist and ask her to fill some crack, she can call the police. He also didn't speak to the police or present much of a defense, according to this appeal.

Attempting to fill postdated prescriptions is not legal. Again, a law school graduate should know this. Having blank prescription pads that belong to a doctor and it's not you is illegal. I'd like to see you address this evidence, because I'm not sure how it makes him innocent.

This is a long debate that began because you implied OP is at risk by saying she got rid of a single bottle of Vicodin. Can't you see, that regardless of our views on this particular man's guilt or innocence, filling the equivalent of 1200 pills at multiple pharmacies is a lot more suspicious than a single patient getting rid of a single bottle of meds that aren't working for her? You are supposed to dispose of pills that you don't need anymore. OP would have a whopping law suit if she were to be raided or even reported for this. Richard Paey's circumstances and actions are in completely different ballpark than OP's situation.

I'm also done with this debate unless you address the points I've raised directly, instead of quoting articles from sympathizers who are leaving out relevant facts. What these writers really want is jury nullification (finding someone innocent despite being guilty because you don't want them punished.) I'm not arguing he's not a sympathetic character. He probably could have found some compassion if he had cooperated with the investigation, but he has the legal right not to. Of course, that leaves him subject to a jury of his peers, who found him guilty. The juror stating that he thought he would get probation doesn't imply he thought he was innocent. If he did, that's what he would have voted. It implies he felt bad for the man. I do as well. But he was guilty and not an example of an innocent man falsely accused.

Done for the night, anyway. Hopefully I'm not appearing snarky to you; it's nothing personal, but you and I obviously disagree on our interpretations of the law.

Nurse should be reported, no one should be offering to buy opiates back from the patient.

A terrible budget cut could result in the demise of a reporting system where a person's drug history for narcotics can be tracked. We use it in the psych hospital where i work whenever we suspect a person of abuse. These drugs can only end up in abuse. Other forms of pain relief are more effective and not as addicting. Long term use of opiates, alcohol, benzos and other drugs will eventually result in an early death, often from accidental overdose.

^^^I was most surprised at the person who claimed to be working in a pharmacy and said to give her 2 weeks and then turn her in. Do you realize how many people could be affected in 2 weeks?

I was responding to the OP's reluctance to report this nurse for fear of hurting her career. As a fellow pharmacist, you should know as well as I do that the consequences of being reported for a drug-related offense (and convicted) would be the loss of her job and license for sure. If the OP is unwilling to report her because they don't want to do that to her, I was offering a solution that at least would be better than doing nothing, and would allow the nurse to actually get help and maybe recover. Sure, of course, the best thing to do from a legal standpoint would be to just report her immediately, I'm not saying otherwise. But reporting her at all in a way that is acceptable to the OP would be better than just letting her continue, so that's why I made the suggestion I did.

WoW!
I am a practicing RN who was taking Lortab for a Staph infection recently...although I wasn't at work while I was taking it.
Does this make me a drug addict too?
I paid about $10 for a whole bottle of them!

I am a nurse at that is reprehensible. Report her immediately. She may be a hazard to her patients.

WoW!
I am a practicing RN who was taking Lortab for a Staph infection recently...although I wasn't at work while I was taking it.
Does this make me a drug addict too?
I paid about $10 for a whole bottle of them!

Did you obtain them illegally?

No, taking something doesn't make you an addict, obtaining prescription drugs legally is unethical, and asking a patient for their prescription is strange and suspect behavior. I would think that most people wouldn't just start asking patents with whom they are unfamiliar for their pills. To me such brazen behavior carries the stink of desperation, doesn't matter the reason. Personal use, recreational use, sell to someone else to make a quick couple of bones . . . it's still wrong.

WoW!
I am a practicing RN who was taking Lortab for a Staph infection recently...although I wasn't at work while I was taking it.
Does this make me a drug addict too?
I paid about $10 for a whole bottle of them!

Drug addicts take mind altering substances to get high. If you find yourself doctor shopping, writing fake scripts, stealing from the med cabs, etc. then you might be an addict. This thread has nothing to do with calling all nurses who take vicodin "addicts." It's about a nurse that asked a patient if she could buy his, which is illegal and drug addict behavior.

Quoting an article sympathizing with the man isn't evidence. You still haven't proven that his doctor or nurse turned him in. You telling people that they should lie to providers to avoid a home raid is fearmongering and more likely to result in someone getting ineffective treatment than protecting someone from getting their homes raided. (Edit: Addressed the source of the report in my next post after reading the appeal submitted by his attorney.)

He went to a pharmacy and obtained 1200 pills in a short period of time. Your article states the facts are in dispute. He turned in undated prescriptions and had forging equipment in his possession. (At least according to one source. I'm not going to read the trial transcripts, but you can post them if you wish.) He was found guilty by a jury of his peers. If they believed him to be innocent, they would have found him so. His sentence wasn't overturned--it was pardoned. Again, you haven't provided any evidence that he was innocent, just that he was a sympathetic character.

His word isn't enough for me. A guilty man stating "I didn't do it?" It wouldn't be the first time.

His word was not good enough for the police either. The man (Richard Paey) had prescriptions from a New Jersey doctor...((The pharmacy contacted the Dr's office each time Mr Paey came in. The pharmacy was told each time by the Dr's office that it was okay to fill the prescriptions))...HOWEVER when the narcotics people jumped down on the New Jersey doctor for (over?) prescribing...The Doctor said that those prescriptions were forged.... Richard Paey went to jail in a wheelchair! :frown:

PS...Saying that you have no extra pills to a nurse who is trying to illegally buy your medicine is not lying!