Vet refusing to fill prescription

srghc8

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#1
I am so mad at the vet I was trying I can barely see straight. When I got my new dog I took him in for shots, heartworm test, and microchipping. When the vet walked in he immediately put me off by asking why I would crop my dogs ears, and was I just trying to make him look mean? The dog's ears were cropped when I got him, and cane corsos ears are commonly cropped anyway. Then he was rough with my dog and had to muzzle him because Rugaru didn't take well to the manhandling. Left the vet and went online to order flea/tick treatment and heartworm pills. The company faxed the vet 3 times, twice through an automated service and once by hand. The clinic first said that they didn't receive the fax, then that the fax machine was broken, and when I called today the vet himself told me he won't sign for prescriptions to be filled anywhere but with him as he is cheaper. I advised him of the price I was paying online, and the vet said they couldn't and wouldn't meet or beat the price but also wouldn't allow it to be filled anywhere else. I should be able to get the prescriptions for my dog filled wherever I want to. I took the records all down to my normal vet that is now back in the office and advised them of what happened. Now I have reordered the pills and they will be filled by my normal vet. I will NEVER go back to the other vet. My sister took her pit bull to him previously and had an issue as well. He told her he didn't understand why anyone would have a pit bull they were good for nothing and should all be put down. If I had known that previously I wouldn't have gone to him for Rugaru. I don't appreciate breed stereotypes and prejudices. I just had to vent. Has anyone else ever had a vet refuse to fill a prescription if it's ordered through someone else?
 
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#2
In many states it's actually not legal for a veterinarian to refuse to give you a written prescription if you ask for it. In addition to being really poor way to treat people IMO.

(Not that you can demand they write random prescriptions for whatever you want, but in this type of situation where they already are prescribing a medication.)
 
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#3
Yeah, my vet won't don prescriptions for other places either. I love almost everything about her, except that. So far though she really has price matched.
 

Beanie

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#4
Never had it happen before but I did have one receptionist act like it was a BIG DEAL when I asked if I could get it filled elsewhere. "Is there a PROBLEM getting it from us?" "Only that you're forty minutes away and if I don't have to drive all the way there to get it that would save me an hour and a half of my time." Scoff scoff, bitch bitch. Oooookay.

You might check your state's laws with the AVMA and see if it's illegal for them to refuse in your state. Some states also have laws saying they can't charge you a fee for writing it but not all.
 

srghc8

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#5
MO is actually one of the states that they have to provide the prescription by law, but if he refuses I can't technically myself make him. However, I can turn him in to the state veterinary medical board.
 

SaraB

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#6
Seriously?! What a crappy business mindset. Either lose the immediate purchase of meds through you or lose a long term client. Pretty sure I would lose the immediate purchase anytime.
 

Southpaw

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#7
There's a local clinic here that will not authorize prescriptions to online pharmacies. I have no idea what their stance is on people wanting meds filled from like Target or Costco etc - I just know they don't do the online pet pharmacies.

Personally that wouldn't bug me since it had never even crossed my mind to get meds from somewhere other than my vet's office, until my last vet insisted that I get Juno's Prozac from a human pharmacy so that I wouldn't have to pay as much.

But clearly there are other issues with this vet.
 

Saeleofu

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#8
At the clinic where I worrk, we will NOT sign papers we get through the fax - but we are more than happy to give people a written script they can mail in.

Our one exception is Trifexis. Trifexis is only sold through vets, so if any other place is selling it, they're doing so illegally/the product was obtained illegally/it's counterfeit product. So we will not give or authorize external scripts for that.
 

elegy

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At the clinic where I worrk, we will NOT sign papers we get through the fax - but we are more than happy to give people a written script they can mail in.
that is our policy as well. and frequently, we're cheaper anyway. but it's up to the client where they want to purchase their medication. we just will not be the middle man.
 

crazedACD

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#10
Oh wow, that's kind of bad business IMO.

Usually I just get meds from my vet and don't really mind paying a few extra bucks for a one time prescription of antibiotics or whatever I need. The vet appointment I had this week was kind of a money suck, they don't stock phenobarbital in the clinic and had to send it out, so I had them send out the antibiotic prescription as well. The vet seemed happy to send it out, actually said it would probably be cheaper. They sent it to the Wal-Mart pharmacy and it was only $18 for 30 days of amoxi and 30 days of pheno :eek:. Usually it's like..$28 for one full prescription of whatever. Fantastic.

I noticed Wal-Mart is stocking heartworm prevention and some other stuff too! I don't know how much it is there though.
 

JennSLK

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#11
I loved our vet. We always sent our prescription to Walmart for Emma's Florinef and Prednisone. The vet was way more expensive and considering its not a cheap med to begin with. But my vet was just awesome with everything. I loved her. She even offered to not call in her tech with my friends dog dislocated a hip (Great Pyr), if we helped with the manual stuff since she knew my friends husband wouldn't spend a lot on a "farm dog"
 

Grab

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#12
The clinic I work for frequently fills prescriptions from online places, etc. without issue. Presuming the pet is up to date on bloodwork and such
 
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#13
Years ago when we first noticed that Em had something wrong with her I took her to a vet I wouldn't normally go to. I usually go to a farm vet who is very informal about everything. I took her to the most popular (and probably expensive) vet in town thinking that they might be better since they deal more with dogs everyday than my normal vet. Long story short, they muzzled her, knocked her out, and when I picked her up, she had this huge blood filled blister-like think next to her eye. They wrote it off as her hitting her head on the cage but I don't believe it one second. After that, my cousin, who has Em's parents, told me that that particular vet wasn't a fan of pit bulls and that they were rough with his dogs too. Anyway, they also wouldn't let us get her meds elsewhere. I ended up taking her back to my normal vet and they gave us generic. I will never go anywhere else again.
 

elegy

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#14
Usually I just get meds from my vet and don't really mind paying a few extra bucks for a one time prescription of antibiotics or whatever I need. The vet appointment I had this week was kind of a money suck, they don't stock phenobarbital in the clinic and had to send it out, so I had them send out the antibiotic prescription as well. The vet seemed happy to send it out, actually said it would probably be cheaper. They sent it to the Wal-Mart pharmacy and it was only $18 for 30 days of amoxi and 30 days of pheno :eek:. Usually it's like..$28 for one full prescription of whatever. Fantastic.
We have had a lot of problems with buying medications at work. There have been all kinds of backorders and short supplies, and the human pharmacies get first dibs, and the veterinarians then get to fight over what's left and prices get jacked ridiculously. We stopped filling phenobarbital at the hospital where I work because we couldn't do it for a reasonable cost to clients. Prednisone, when we can get it (we currently cannot even get 20mg tablets) is also one that has jumped tremendously in price. Clomipramine (generic Clomicalm) has gone up and up and up and is now supposedly going to be absurdly expensive, so we are either having owners get it at the human pharmacy or switching them to generic prozac.

So there are multiple facets to this problem.

I tell ya, though- I am on daily medication now for the first time in my life, and I absolutely would have paid a few dollars more if I could have filled it for the first time at my doctor's office and then had my refills done at my regular pharmacy.
 

crazedACD

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#15
We have had a lot of problems with buying medications at work. There have been all kinds of backorders and short supplies, and the human pharmacies get first dibs, and the veterinarians then get to fight over what's left and prices get jacked ridiculously. We stopped filling phenobarbital at the hospital where I work because we couldn't do it for a reasonable cost to clients. Prednisone, when we can get it (we currently cannot even get 20mg tablets) is also one that has jumped tremendously in price. Clomipramine (generic Clomicalm) has gone up and up and up and is now supposedly going to be absurdly expensive, so we are either having owners get it at the human pharmacy or switching them to generic prozac.

So there are multiple facets to this problem.

I tell ya, though- I am on daily medication now for the first time in my life, and I absolutely would have paid a few dollars more if I could have filled it for the first time at my doctor's office and then had my refills done at my regular pharmacy.
Oh yeah, definitely...the vet was telling me doxycycline was off the market at the moment too, as usually that is what they prescribe for lyme.
 

srghc8

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#16
If I lived in a state that the vet did not have to give me a written prescription or authorize those that I order online it would have been different. However, the state I live in requires that they either give me a prescription or fill a fax from a pharmacy. He just flat refused, and today I get a letter from them that I am "rude and demanding" and per the vet's order will never be allowed to get services or products from their clinic again. I didn't think it was rude and demanding to expect me vet to comply with the law. I have received emails from people in the area that he has been rude and rough with their bully breeds too after posting on a FB site for animals in my area.
 

crazedACD

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He just flat refused, and today I get a letter from them that I am "rude and demanding" and per the vet's order will never be allowed to get services or products from their clinic again. I didn't think it was rude and demanding to expect me vet to comply with the law. I have received emails from people in the area that he has been rude and rough with their bully breeds too after posting on a FB site for animals in my area.
:eek: :eek:

I would get the letter on the computer, and start posting on review sites with the letter included (google the clinic and there should be a ton of places to leave a review). If it were me I'd probably file a complaint about the prescriptions with the AVMA or whoever oversees this sort of thing.
 

srghc8

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#18
I have been reviewing everywhere minus a copy of the letter because I just received that today in the mail. I have also turned him into the MO veterinary medical board for the prescription violation. My dog has never had a problem with people and when I took him in to that vet the vet made disparaging remarks about his cropped ears, muzzled him, and wrestled him to the ground. Needless to say if ever there was a day I was rude it was that day when the vet and I had a very heated discussion.
 

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