Is It Legal for a Psychiatrist to Disallow Medicine to a Patient?

Question by Shane: Is it legal for a Psychiatrist to disallow medicine to a patient?
A friend of mine was seeing a doctor, shes bipolar. She was on zoloft for 2 yrs. She had ran out of her meds, and the psychiatrists’ staff was basically like , “Tough. You havent been here in almost 2 years and you cant have meds again until you come back in and go through therapy.” While I know my friend should have kept her appt, she is mentally unstable and desperately needed her meds. Is this legal? If so, is it at all ethical? She is the sick one, hes the doctor, and why would she be getting her scripts filled this whole time if she hadnt seen him at all? She loses track of time, that is part of the problem but it just seems he should have taken the high road and made sure she had enough meds to go through until her next appt. Help!

Best answer:

Answer by fuzzykitty
It is kind of the nature of the beast, They want you in there to wa wa to them generally on a monthly basis , if she didn’t take her meds they could have her committed for not taking it . The only way she’s going to win is deal with here bi-polar herself. and it isn’t easy.
Been there done that and fight it every time I turn around but there is no way I will wa wa to them again, nor will I allow them to dictate to me that I have to be on medication.

Answer by Denie
Did they really say “Tough!”??? I think they just think she needs a check up. I take medicine too. The dr. gives me enough prescriptions for 6 months or so..then I have to go in for a check up. They also need to see if taking this medicine (or any medicine) is causing liver damage etc. Also, there might be new and better medicine that can help. Most doctors do this because they care about the patient…and also, they could probably lose their license if they didn’t do this. I don’t know about the “therapy” part. Maybe they just want to see how she’s doing. If she’s doing good…they will have an idea of how to help other patients. Also, maybe there are new techniques in dealing with bipolar problems. This is a good thing. Maybe she can get help somewhere with the cost. To me, anything mental should be free. ALSO…there are people out there getting prescriptions from their doctors and selling the medicine after they get it. Doing this is an “occupation” for some people.

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