There are many stories of that happening and the pharmacy staff being rude and dismissive. You should call and ask to speak to the pharmacy manager. Someone double counted the Oxy and the pharmacist has make sure the count's accurate before it is signed off. I don't know if they use automatic dispensers for their Schedule II drugs; they are adamant that they are right if they did that. There is always a chance of mistakes if when you're trying to be fast and accurate. You are told to count it right there at the counter; how can you if you have 90 pills and a line behind you. I'm paranoid about having it on my person until I safe at home.
Anyways, give them a call and have that investigated. You are the one suffering the loss financially and physically.

If it was nay other med, it would have been dealt with no problem.I had this happen once, except it was 5 ambien(only 30 in script) luckily I counted before leaving.The pharmacist accused me of being a thief and pill junkie(this was while I was staying FL, so it was a random choice).I talked with the store manager, head pharmacist and even offered them to search my dads car.They did a count, it was off on their side and no 2nd count either.Needless to say, it was embarrassing, stressful and resolved with a bit of due diligence/politeness.Which I cannot stress enough, be kind and keep somewhat calm.They are human and sadly these RX's bring out paranoia not what is right sometimes.

However, they should bite their tongue and refrain from calling their customers drug seekers. They would lose my business for sure.

If they counted always right like they claimed then you would've had the right amount of xanax right? It happened before to me and after umming and awwing they gave me the missing pill. The customer is always right. For them to err twice shows the counting was off twice. It's just hypocritical of them. I'm sure if you call the Pharmacist and explain that they have to give over the estra pill it means nothing to them to give one more pill. Call them tomorrow and you don't have to pick it up right away. Hope things get resolved for you. Charry

i don't know that i would cause any more fuss about 1 oxy. really, you are causing alot of trouble and may not get the resolution you seek. give it up and just say mistakes happen. your PM does not want to hear about this!!! Jenny

i would call over and over.
xanax is a controlled substance also just like valium.
so they are screwed themself for being 4 over. so i have no idea why they are shrugging that one off.
you may have a huge fight on your hands with the 1 less oxy.
but don't give up. also call your PM and let them be aware of the issue because just 1 screws up your dosing schedule.
hey also if it comes down to a police report today heck i would do it so my butt was covered.
but of course this is all up to you..
just telling you what i would do.

i tend to stick with in town pharmacy. we have a rite aid here that i have gone to for years. with the same 4 people working all the time. they also now have dropped alot of their meds to 4 dollar scripts. i think your going to see that happening more and more.

i wish you well on this one. its happened over and over..
terri

I was shorted 10 hydrocodones last winter and I called the store as soon as I got home. Ten was quite noticable when I pulled the bottle out of the container. They called me back and said their recount was right on and basically implied that I was lying. I emailed their parent company "Savon" and
the store manager. I said maybe I should call the police because obviously those 10 went somewhere and that somewhere was not in my bottle. I got immediate results and an apology from the phramacy manager.

I say, don't let them get away with it.

And he just said to come in and get the extra pill no problem. In the end he also said - and there will be no charge for that either...I thought - well duh! Of course not!!!!

Anyway - I am glad that it didnt turn into a big ol'deal and they were decent about it.

Thanks again for the responses.

Alina

Glad it worked out.

My friend from work takes something for her blood pressure. When she went to pick it up at Wal-Mart the other day she picked up 40 tablets of Lortab instead. It was even on the label. I've worked in a pharmacy as a tech and there is absolutely NO excuse for pharmacists to get it wrong when it comes to narcotics. They count and triple count and then have someone else count too and check the labels on the bottle and your bottle. So if they are doing their jobs right there is no room for error. Sounds like this particular chain is not doing their job. I told her they needed to be reported. If she hadn't read the label or weren't familiar with her medication she could have taken it and may have had some very adverse side effects. But here's an FYI for all of you. At the end of the month they have to do an inventory of all narcotics and report their counts. If they are off by even one they better have a DARN good reason for it and be ready to explain. They then have to go back through every prescription and find their error. Enough errors and they are out of business. That's why they accomodated you. They probably went back and did a count and found out they were wrong. But they will never tell you that part.

Pharmacies aren't allowed to use automatic pill counters for narcotics. So if you see one doing it they could very well be breaking the law in the state you live in. They have to be counted by hand. That's why it's always at least an hour wait for your presciption when others are filled in a matter of minutes.

I just hate it when I have to plead my case. It just tires me out.

Who is to say this missing oxy was an accident? If you have 30 people coming in who take oxy, and the pharmacy teck take just one from each script (because not everyone counts....) then the tech (or pharmacist, whomever) would have 30 at the end of the day.

That's just me being paranoid, so don't listen to me and all you pharmacy people out there, I am not trying to insult you... Butbthere's always that ONE bad apple in the bunch. Just the one. Thank God for all the GOOD apples!

But - Alina - I am happy it all worked out for you.

j

All too familiar.. Just got shorted 12 on one of my scripts not two weeks ago.

Worse one was a flexeril script at R.A. about a year ago; little brown circular tablets; the count was off by one, AND I noticed one pill seemed odd.. It was the same color, but a different pill! It was about 5% bigger and with different imprints. I looked it up online and it was some drug used in the ER for emergency heart situations of some sort, and just one of them could have killed me! Some pharmacy tech dumped a bunch of them in the flexeril bottle as they looked identical, and they were dispensing them! Scary. Needless to say they were very apologetic and actually quite freaked out.

I was shorted 1 oxycodone last week. I didnt even notice because I usually don't count my pills but I will from now on. The pharmacy actually were the ones to call me and said their count was over by 1. How does it work at pharmacies? How did they find their error? Was it left in a tray somewhere?

That SOME pharmacists are stealing patients drugs,and they specifically said NARCOTICS.This was on last weeks MSNBC or FOX.I watch both so not sure.

It seems to be pretty common.They said COUNT all pills as soon as you get home,and report any shortages immediately.

Yes,I've been shorted.I called and told them,but I took it no further.

you did not have to call and get a police report. your PM did not need to get involved. it was solved simply and cordially. glad it worked out for you without a lot of hoopla!! by the way, here the narcotics are counted by hand and the number is recorded. they are then counted again and a pharmacist puts their initials over the recorded count. pretty hard to argue with two hand counts. Jenny

I don't understand why I was one short..and it was only a 7.5 lortab(lol),..I know they count them twice and I just assumed someone dropped the ball...BUT,I don't even count my meds,and for some reason I did that month..oh yeah,I remember it was the first month I had them put my meds into 2 bottles and I wanted them to be equal amounts in both..

When I was working as a pharmacy tech we would print out the lables, count out the med, then put the meds in the bottle. THEN we would put the patients RX bottle with the meds in it, the original bottle of meds and the paper work all together, then the pharmacist re-counts and signs off. I can see how things would be shorted IF they were busy! HOWEVER there still is no excuse.
There is a MAJOR Wholesale store which I think we all have around our houses somewhere that is the best to get RX's filled in my opinion. You can go to their online website and get pricing (cash price) on your meds. You DO NOT have to have a membership to use their pharmacy. Just let the person at the main door know you are going to the Pharmacy. They are quick and efficent and cost less. For my oxycodone (after insurance) it usually runs me about 65 bucks, but at the warehouse store it is only 55 bucks. so 10 buck savings on that and with winter coming every dollar counts! The cool part is if you are a member and need ot get shopping done they give you a pager, so if there is an issue OR your RX is ready, instead of calling your name over the store intercom they page you! Which is great for privacy! I will go nowhere else but the wholesale store.

But they split my pills into two bottles,and of course there is not 120 pills in each bottle.My script is for 120/30 days,and I could see that there were more in one bottle than the other.It was only that little OCD part of me that wanted them even

I was shorted alot of pain meds once. 90 pills..I was too ill to get the prescription so my husband picked 'em up and did not know what to look for.
As soon as I saw the bottle I knew there was not enough pills in there. I had to deal with the pharmacy telling me they double-count and it was not an error and blah, blah, blah.. I ended up talking to the manager who said he would investigate. Later on I got a call that yes, they did make a mistake...jade

To my knowledge, I have never been shorted, but I don't always check behind them. But, I did have a Rite Aid pharmacy save my life once. The dr. prescribed a med for a nail fungus and I went to pick it up. The pharmacist held the bag and asked if I was still taking another med that I had used in the past. I said "yes" and she immediately pulled the bag away from me and wouldn't give it to me. If I had taken this anti-fungal med, it could have killed me! God Bless'em every one!

My sister works at an HEB pharmacy and she told me class II drugs are counted by hand and double counted by another person. Other drugs like vicodin or zanax are dispensed using a pill counter but double counted by another person as well. So it could be a human error, an oversight, an individual skimming off the top. You will never know but every pharmacy will triple count in front of you at your request. I equate the possibility of the error like buying a car without looking under the hood, you assume it has all the parts but once you take it home to examine you realize it's missing a few parts or something’s broken. As many prescriptions that are filled these days, there is to be a certain amount that is incorrect. It sucks, but buyer beware.

I have been shorted many times, but I have never complained about it because I was told that once you leave the pharmacy, that's it. You can't come back in and get it all squared away. I thought that was nonsense because we dropped a bottle of cough syrup in the parking lot and it broke. This was before there were plastic bottles. Went back inside with the mess and they gave us a new one. Anyway, I've always learned to count them before I leave the store. One time I went to a CVS and they owed me 18 Hydro 10/325. When I went back to get what they owed me, I ended up with a sealed bottle of 100- hydro 10/325. I didn't complain about that either.

but I wanted to chime in..I am a previous Manager of a well known Pharmacy and also am nationally certified as a Pharmacy tech...I can't tell you how many times we would go home to find unidentified pills in our uniform pockets because they had fallen in throughout the day.

I have been on Oxy ER 40mg for quite a while. I have recently in the past 2 months changed to a new pharmacy as it is closer. I never count my pills, my fault. I am 2 weeks into a 30 day script and noticed the bottle looked pretty empty? I did a count and was 12 pills short out of 60!! It made me sick to my stomach. I called the pharmacy and asked if they made a mistake? I was told no mistake. The more I think about it, the madder it makes me. The tech there is really rude and they are always busy. I do not feel I have any recourse here now as I have had this script over 2 weeks. I have my new script but cannot get it filled until the 2nd of Jan and now have to ration my pills.

I count mine every time now.I don't count at the pharmacy,and I'm not going to take up their time because my meds are not the same as yours and are only lorcet,and 120 of them.I'm counting though when I get home,and if I ever have a descripency I'll take it up with them from then on.

I feel bad for you though-short 12.Is there any way something else could have happened other than a pharmaceutical error? Have you had company over or left your pills unattended..anything at all?

I have thought about someone stealing em. I live with my girlfriend and have for over a year. She cannot take an asprin without getting sick from it. I have been on pain meds over 2 years now and have never had pills come up missing. I thought someoene may be breaking into my apartment while were gone but that is highly doubtful. I have a very loud dog, plus he cannot open a pill bottle, LOL!
Two things make me sure it is the pharmacy.
First being I have had a Rx of Morphine 60 mg pills left over from when I was in the hospital a year ago. If someone were stealing my pills, seems to me they would take one of them? They are still all there.
Second thing is, I just started going to this pharmacy, seems to me more than a coincidence that having my pain pills filled so long, I come up short after only going there for less than two months?
Honestly, I can deal with the loss of the pills, I will get by. Plus, I will ALWAYS count my pills from now on as soon as I get them! It is just driving me nuts not knowing where them pills are??

2 weeks or not...that is still a significant number. The first time I called them they were adamant that it was an error on my end...and as soon as they realized that it wasnt something I was going to let go - they had the pharmacy manager call me and left the missing medication available for pick up. I would call back and speak to the manager and explain to them that you called when you first picked it up and they said it wasnt their error. You didnt know how to proceed so you just kept looking for the missing pills. Then tell them you spoke to your doctor and your doctor insisted that you pursue the pharmacy again.
Did they even do a count before telling you the mistake wasnt on their end? 12 is a big number. Someone is stealing them for sure.
I wouldnt let it go...I just wouldnt.
Since i had the discrepancy I make them now triple count, and then I spill the pills and count them myself. Ooooo do they hate that!!!
I say you do something about it. Keep us posted and let us know what happens.
I am curious how you can let your pills last? Do you only take them when you need them or as instructed?

Alina

I talked with the pharmacist, I explained the situation. She took some information, put me on hold and came back to the phone. She said they do a double count. The bottle is signed off as so. I asked her if they have any systems in place so that they actually inventory their pain meds. She said they do but it is anually? She said they did not short me, period.
I take one of these pills in the morning and one before bed like clockwork. If I forget, I am in bad shape until I can take one and wait an hour.
I have some morphine pills left over from April I am taking to fill the void. I am going back to this pharmacy to get my refil on the first. I will go straight home and count them. If I am so much as one pill short, I will be contacting anyone and everyone who will listen...

Also - I would ask them to pull the video from that day. OC is a VERY expensive medication...and its BS that someone can pocket TWELVE and nothing be done about it. I dont care how many times they counting it - 12 is a significant number. It would be another thing if it was one...but 12? Come on!

Are you ok with it? Or do you think you will pursue it more?

Alina

I'm prescribed a variety of medications. I go directly home, no stops, stapled and sealed, and fill my pill buddies. I have a total of 8, the more expensive ones, about 6$ a container that holds a weeks worth of medication. Fill all 4 of the ones that are prescribed by the Dr. and to be taken at different times. Total of 4 weeks with 2 days left in the pill bottles. Get rid of the bottles in two days then begin on the pill buddies.

I then, after all numbers match fill the other pill buddies with holistic medications, vitamins and herbal remedies, I take daily also.

Knock on wood I've never had a problem. I don't know what the pharmacist reaction would be had I counted over 1000 pills in front of her. Hypothetically had I ever ran into this problem, she'd be the 1st I call. We have a good repertoire. If by chance I received grief from her, my next, most important step WOULD be to contact my Dr. for further guidance. He's in charge, period. If by chance he felt law enforcement should get involved, I'm on the phone, not moving a muscle until a report is filed.

In my humble opinion leaving your Dr. out of the fray could prove far more than painful down the road. Just read Tatiyana reply, it speaks volumes.

I feel there is not much more I can do. I kind of feel it is partly my fault for not counting them sooner.
I will be getting my next Rx of oxy filled there as well. I cannot seem to find many pharmacies that carry Oxy 40mg ER, let alone find em in generic! I will get my script filled. Head straight home and do a count. If I am missing a pill or more, I will be going straight back to the pharmacy. Then there will be law enforcement and my Dr. involved...

I have a good relationship w/my pharmacist.Today I called for a refill on a script and he says,"I'll have to FAX Dr so&so because there are no refills on that" to which I reply,"yes I do have a refill",then he says,"Oh yes you do,Im sorry,I don't know whats wrong with my eyes today."

Now-this may seem like nothing,but I had an issue with him once about 7 months ago that has been resolved and things have been great ever since...but this just reinforces my belief that pharmacists have way too much control.Yes,I could have sorted things out with my Dr-AFTER the holidays,AFTER the new year,and after the headache of all the BS..and then I would have changed pharmacys.

Also-I AM going to mention this to my Dr because I am probably not the only one that has had an issue with this guy.I did talk to the owner the last time I had a problem.I think this IS a bigger problem than we are aware of,or that most of us are aware of anyway.

I might also add if I were in your shoes, taking less than, say 300 pills, I myself would have no problem standing beside the register counting them before a paid them a dime. Remember this is just my opinion, the medication you're on, society has been shaped to form a biased Opophobic opinion of irregardless of the therapeutic benefits. Sucks you have to pay for someone else's expletive-up. Again, if I were you, I'd count them right there. In my case, it's just not feasible. A pill from your script, a pill from mine, you get the drift.

I live in Flint Michigan. Standing at the counter while counting out a bunch of narcotics unfortunately is not an option for me. Third most dangerous city in the country. I would never make it home!

Point well taken. I guess you'll have to revert back to your post Giving it a rest....How far is Flint from the Canadian border? Might be able to request the help of the DEA agents stationed at the border, then again both agents are probably raiding an honest Dr's. office or eating donuts while the true traffickers are doing the "Cha-Cha" crossing into the USA. LOL. Canada

Nobody will have a problem with you counting at the pharmacy right before/after your purchase. We have a customer that requests that...no big deal, and I work at a VERY busy pharmacy. It is often very busy at the regiser area, so sometimes I have him come to the other window while I count them out for him.

(I've said it before, but I can't help it, I have to say it again, sorry)

And please, it is very, very unlikely that anybody is stealing them. Mistakes happen!!! You try counting stuff all day long while 3 phone lines are ringing simulateously, you're on the phone with an insurance company because some kid swears he has Blue Cross insurance, but doesn't have his card, know his ID number and group number, and can't call his employer to get the info. So you try Blue Cross of California, who can't find the patient via a name and date search. Then you try another subsidary of Blue Cross, who can't find him, either. On the third try, you find his medical coverage, but discover that his pharmacy benefits are administered by Medco, so you have to hang up, and dial another insurance company, and talk to another person in India. Then you hang up the phone, and notice that there are 10 people in line. So you try to finish up the script you were counting, but you feel 20 eyes boring into you.

The pharmacist is on the phone checking the voice mail, and she has 3 doctors' offices on hold, as well as a huge stack of scrips to verify. She can't go the register, so you have to decide if you should stop filling and go the register, or if you should call a manager. So you decide to call a manager to help at the register. But the first person has another insurance problem, and you end up at the register, anyway. The manager, looking confused, wanders away from the pharmacy. You resolve the insurance problem and help the next person, who also has a cart full of ad items, and can't understand why it would be more appropriate to buy them at the front register. Finally the line clears, and you are able to back to counting. You can't remember how many you've counted, so you have to count it again. The phone is still ringing. So you pick it up, and it's Mrs. Fuddy Duddy, who needs a refill on all twenty of her medications, but she can't remember what they are, and the few she does remember she can't pronounce. Oh, and she's going to stop by for those in 20 minutes. No, you tell her, she really needs to call a day in advance. So she gets mad, and says her son is already on the way to pick her up. Fine, you say, we'll do our best but we're very busy, and hang up the phone.

Then there's a lady screaming at the other tech at the window. You're still trying to fill, and the stack of labels is growing tremendously. The wait time is over an hour now. You keep trying to fill, but you can't ignore the banshee, so you go over to see what the problem is. Her doctor hasn't written the date on the prescription, and we will have to call her doctor. And she needs her meds NOW. Being the senior technician, you try to explain to her that we can't fill a controlled medication without a date, but she doesn't care. And of course, it is the pharmacy's fault, not the doctor's. The pharmacist is on the phone and can't help you explain it. The lady stomps off to another pharmacy. You shrug and think good, one less script I have to do right now.

I'm seriously not making this up. This is how it is every single day at this time of year. Imagine if a bunch of people were staring at you while you were trying to do very important, precise work.

Honestly, we don't mind if you want to double count them. At least it means that you're taking some responsibility for you own health care, which is more than I can say for most patients, who seem to leave most of the work to us or the doctor (finding insurance, ensuring the prescription is correct and complete before you leave the doctor,,etc.)

Cut the pharmacy some slack. The economy is so crappy that most places have had to drastically cut payroll, even though the amount of prescriptions filled has stayed the same or even increased, while reimbursments have drastically decreased. Mistakes happen to the best of us. Getting mad at a pharmacist because he overlooked a refill is outrageous. When we look a patient's profile there are often multiple entries for the same drug, some closed, but that must remain in the records. Sometimes your eyes can scan the wrong row and see no refill, when in fact there may be a newer entry for the same drug that does have a refill.

I could go on and on about this, sorry for my rant, I just wanted to show you all a little of the "other side."

Man...two things jumped out at me reading this thread.

Oxycodone pills go for $80 a piece on the street????

Alina.....you paid $500 for 4 scripts!!!!!?

That is heavy. Is that without insurance or what...how come you have to pay so much?

I am really sorry to hear that....I am shocked, especially considering this is month after month I imagine.

It makes me much more appreciative of my insurance....and grateful that my pain meds are on Work Comp.

Wow!!

Rosetta I completely agree with you. It's hard work. Especially at a busy pharmacy. I also worked for one of the busiest in town. But narcotics got my undivided attention. They were way too important to screw up even one. I've even screwed up and chased a woman across town because I had dispensed the wrong med and the pharmacist didn't correct me until just after she walked out the door. We are humans too and do make mistakes. I don't think there is anything sinister going on although I had a co worker who was more than willing to sweep the floor at night before closing. Then on counts when we came up short for Xanax I would just have to go hmm.... I have a good relationship with my BIG chain Pharmacist but I would be upset too if I were any one of these people who had been shorted on a narcotic and would want an answer for it right away.

What is the location and city where this occured because my parents get their meds from walgreens. Thanks!

Payne65

Hello Payne~Welcome to S~H

We are not really supposed to mention names of these chains or Drs and such,or anything by name.Sometimes a pharmacy name or Dr name slips through the cracks,but if caught we get flagged or edited and most of us would rather follow the rules.BUT,someone might tell you in a PM.I can't tell you because I don't deal with chain stores..but somebody will probably see your post & answer you.

I used to go to a large chain drugstore and was shorted a few times. I am one of those annoying people who stand at the counter and count so I could tell them right away. If the guys could not run the cash register properly I did not trust them to count pills properly!

About 2 years ago I found a smaller, family owned pharmacy. We never wait in line, and when I call for refills they actually ask me how I am feeling! I trust them much more and have never been shorted. The hours are less convenient but we cannot beat the service!

I had a shortage of a long acting pain med that was shorted by 30 with the total script for 90. I like others here didnt notice it until about 2 weeks after I had it filled. I called the pharmacy where I got it and they (like others) said that it is not possible becuase they double check them. 30 was a high amount, so I then grilled everyone in my house. I didnt figure anyone in the house did it but had to ask them, I spoke with my DR, and while empathetic was told that I had to get police report in order to get it filled. Then once I did that was told that the clinic would not write a script for lost or stolen medicine. Low and behold though, I got a call from the pharmacy manager apologizing and telling me they found the error in their inventory and they had the balance of my medication there for me to pick up. I was frustrated especially after about a week of back and forth with DR, Police, interigating family ect. But I did appreciate the pharmacy manager speaking with me directly and it all ended up fine in my case. From that point on, I make sure I have the correct amount when I get home.