The last laugh

I love when I get the chance to have the last laugh... and I owe it all to an aware Pharmacist at Local Pharmacy.

My night shift started off with a patient and her husband who were very upset, to say the least, that the patient was not discharged from the hospital. The discharge was being held up waiting for a doctor to come up and assess the patient to make sure she was safe and ready to be discharged. I mean... the patient was post brain surgery. But that was not of the concern of the patient or the patient's husband.

Long story short... the patient was yelling (although she claimed that we gave her the worst headache of her life), the husband was yelling. In fact the husband was literally in my face screaming, spitting, and turning red. Security was called. It was great... it's what I get up in the morning for (read with sneering sarcasm).

The patient is demanding her IV Dilaudid because her oral Percocet was not working. But she wanted to go home immediately. I'm still not sure where she thought she was going to get IV Dilaudid at home from... but I can make a good guess.

Finally we get the patient discharged, scripts in hand. Goodbye and good riddance.

About 3 hours later we get a call from the Local Pharmacy who wants to verify some scripts that we had discharged a patient with earlier in the day. Surprise... it was the very same patient who made my life so fun just a few hours earlier. The pharmacist was concerned that the narcotic prescription had been altered.

First... you treat the very nurses, who cared for your sorry ass after you just had your BRAIN cut into, like pond scum. Second... your husband comes close to what could be considered assault on a human being, aside from the fact that assault on a health care worker is a felony. Third... you threaten a law suit to anyone who dared look in your direction. And lastly... you ALTER your narcotic prescription??? And then you try to pass it off?? And now you want ME to verify the script... ME? (Do you remember what you said to me? Do you remember what you called me? Do you remember that your husband covered me in his saliva? You are lucky that I'd rather make sure your got your meds than risk you coming back to the hospital!)

Prescription did indeed appear altered.

So now you have NO pain medication. You likely got the cops called on you if you treated the pharmacist the same way you treated me. AND... I got the last laugh!