Drug Seeker Stories

Well I had one of those lovely drug seekers the other night. Patient said she had a kidney and was peeing prue blood. Well, I had her get a CC urine. When I went back to get her urine, I noticed her finger was bleeding and some blood spots on the sheet. And her urine was a weird pink color. So I told the doc and he had me cath her....her urine was completely clear. Of course, she tried to make up a story about how sometimes she pees blood but sometimes pees clear too. Whatever...sent her out the door...

Also had someone come in 3 times in one week who used a new name everytime. Turns out he was going to ER after ER in my city using differents names for drugs...sent him out the door and to jail.

Specializes in ER.

Last night I got a call to the ER from a guy asking if we could treat his leg pain, I say "Sure." He asks if we could see him and NOT notify his PMD, I say that's up to him , and why wouldn't he want his doc to know? Because the doc doesn't like him going to the Er for pain meds. And why would that be? Because his doc thinks he takes too much. Hmmmm, so what's the med for- cellulitis in his leg....and how much exactly are you on? Morphine 600mg every day!

Probably not going to get ANYTHING from us without a call to your doc, buddy.

I agree with TraumaIntheSlot. Alcoholism is not a disease - its a "character flaw". We all have genetic tendencies - but we dont act on them. I have many alcoholics in my family. One of which is on Disability!! So, me and other tax payers are getting the bill. Disease is a condition that you have no control over (except to be compliant with treatment). Alcoholism is a choice that we make.

Another tell-tale sign of drug seekers is when the patient not only asks what you're giving, but wants to know what dose.

At the ER, we(nurses,doctors) say that "we're not going to care anymore about you than you care about youself" (to the patients).

I believe that seasoned nurses can tell the difference between real pain and faking/fudging pain.

From what I have seen alcoholism and drug abuse are many times symptoms of a bigger problem: depression. As someone who has suffered from depression since I was a child I know how debilitating depression can be. It isn't something you just snap out of. Nothing hurts me more than to hear someone flippantly tell people who are depressed to "get a grip." These kinds of statements are like a slap in the face to someone suffering from true depression and only add insult to injury.

People deal with depression in different ways. I hide away and eat (which has caught up with me, at 5'2" I weigh over 200 pounds.. while others may take drugs or drink alcohol. I don't think a doctor would be out of line to prescribe an antidepressant to drug seekers under certain circumstances. What could it hurt?

Several years ago I had a male come in for something to calm him down as his parents had been in an mva, dad was dead and mother critical in a hospital in Pa. MD ordered inj valium, yes he did have a driver. While waiting the 20 mins he asked for directions to a hospital 20 mins away "so he could go tell his aunt who was hospitalized there". I smelled a skunk. After he left called the other hospital and said that he may be coming. I also called area hospitals and found that he had been to the one closest to his home, 45 mins away, and got drugs; then the hospital 30 mins away, and got drugs; then the hospital across town, and also got drugs, prior to coming to mine. All of this just travel time between visits. Yes he did go to the last hospital after leaving me, and did not get any drugs :)

I talked to the ED MD and the police were called, he was arrested, indited by the grand jury after my testimony, and served one year in Maine state prison. Also there had been no accident and the state police had talked to the "dead" father just a few days before grand jury. There was no trial, he plead guilty, and the DA said he would make no deals as he had RN/MD's to testify. The charge was getting drugs by deception. After getting out he was back to the same thing, same hospitals. Died shortly after getting out of prison from a mva with lots of pill bottles in his car. (Also I had been warned to watch out for him as he was not a nice guy and may be after me. I did not live in the town of the hospital.) Yea reap what you sow. :nono:

Court isn't always a fun place to spend your time, but very necessary at times. If we take a stand and it is know, perhaps it will help. There are programs to help people with drug problems, and I support those that kick their habits, but not those who are just law breakers and liers. :angryfire

Gotta love the ones who call "incognito" first to see who the doc on is.

We had a few that did this all the time. Knew em' by voice. So I would answer, "That would be Dr. so-n-so. (always give the name of the doc that would NEVER give em anything...and they knew it) Anything else I can do for you "Joe"?

Click....buzzzz....

Specializes in ER, PACU.

This was the best..Sat night there was a 20-something year old patient admitted to psych for taking a few too many Xanax's..sleepy at first, but otherwise OK. Its now 6 hours after getting 2 tubes of activated charcol. This man was up, walking to bathroom, going outside to smoke (with a security escort) getting himself something to eat, ect. No problems. I see him sitting on the side of the bed, and then I hear him yelling for the nurse. He then gets up from the ground and is now sitting in the chair next to his bed. He says "Nurse, I just fell out of the bed and now my back hurts". I was like "Nice try throwing yourself out of the bed, you were up all night walking around with no problem and now you fall?" "But nurse, my back hurts so bad. I think I need pain medication". He got Tylenol. After getting Tylenol and Motrin, the doctor finally just asks him what he wants. Morphine. Go figure! She laughed in his face! Patient in the bed next to him calls me over and whispers to me that she saw him throw himself out of the bed.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

My last drug seeker story involved "one of our own"...an RN who was released because of taking opiates (liquid) from patient PCA pumps. They asked her for a urine, which she declined to give. When she was released from the hospital, she would often be found "visiting" patients (while wearing a nurse's uniform)...making "her" rounds sorta speak, until one day she nearly hit one of our security guards in the parking lot with her car as she was trying to flee...(the car was stopped...iv tubing/supplies and syringes were found in the car). Sad...very sad.

Looking back, nurses were able to piece backward her behaviors that should have raised flags earlier.

1. She spent beaucoup amounts of time medicating her patients for pain

2. She would case other nurses' patients for need for pain medication and PCA machine refills

3. Getting very upset with doctors over the phone for not prescribing pain medication for her patients

4. Requesting to come in to work extra, coming in to work, but requesting to leave to go home after working part of her shift

5. Having her co-nurse carry most of the patient load

6. Going out for frequent smoke breaks...way too frequent

Yes folks, it happens to our own too.

Opiates...the worst drug addiction out there.

Pt. "X" comes in c/o migraine headache and back pain. Pt. really does have back problems and has had to have rods placed due to scoliosis. However, the pt. states that her headache is just "unbearable" and she has had it for 1 week with no relief. What the pt. forgot is that she has a stamp on her hand from the dance club she attended Saturday night. Pretty bad migraine headache there:)

in older patients, it can increase the risk to bleed.

One of the ER Docs said we can't give this to patients who are allergic to ASA. So, is there ASA in it?

Yes, I'm actually saying that some of us need to lighten up. I know, hard to believe. I can be pretty rabid on the subject of chronic pain, and proper management, but I can also laugh. This thread started off very amusing, but very quickly it turned into a debate about right and wrong. I suffered severe chronic pain for 4 years before being diagnosed, and was treated badly by docs and nurses in the ED too many times to count. Of all those times, I was only given meds once. Now, I've been diagnosed and I have a great doctor who has worked out a pain management plan that is working.

It is depressing, frustrating, and humiliating when you have real pain and a nurse treats you like a drug seeker. But it was very interesting to read this thread and see what they go through everyday and have a better understanding of WHY they looked at me this way. Heck, I was so naive when I went to the ED that I went in, told them I was in pain, and that my doc(who I have since FIRED) said that nothing was wrong with me, but I'm in agony so can you please give me something for pain? I outright asked for pain meds, no manipulation, no bull...I didn't know that people other people go to the ED to get meds because they're addicts. I didn't ask for meds by name, because I didn't know one opiate from an other, or anything about them really. I just knew that ED's have to have something strong. I never asked for a scrip, I just wanted a shot of something, anything, to take away the pain for awhile.

After reading the posts in this thread, I can understand why some of the things were done, that made no sense to me at the time. Like once a doc asked me what meds I was taking, I said "birth control pills" and looked at me like I was a moron and said " I meant pain meds". I told him the truth, I wasn't taking anything because my doctor said that there's no reason for me to be in pain. So, that doc gave me nothing. I guess he assumed that my MD knew what he was doing, or maybe he thought that my MD had cut me off, who knows, but I understand to some extent, why the ED never helped me. Because they probably spent the day dealing with the hilarious fakers these other posts are about.

The posts are funny, please, continue to share your stories. Especially ones like the " 100lbs of MOPHINE" :lol2:

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
yes, i'm actually saying that some of us need to lighten up. i know, hard to believe. i can be pretty rabid on the subject of chronic pain, and proper management, but i can also laugh. this thread started off very amusing, but very quickly it turned into a debate about right and wrong. :lol2:

i agree! the first part of the thread was hilarious, and then some members started preaching . . . i think we all need a place where we can vent, and this place is a great place to do that. the debates about right and wrong don't belong in a humorous thread, and folks who haven't walked a mile in the shoes of an er nurse don't need to be criticizing those who do it daily! just my opinion. but hey, i'm an icu nurse -- but the icu threads aren't usually funny!

i agree! the first part of the thread was hilarious, and then some members started preaching . . . i think we all need a place where we can vent, and this place is a great place to do that. the debates about right and wrong don't belong in a humorous thread, and folks who haven't walked a mile in the shoes of an er nurse don't need to be criticizing those who do it daily! just my opinion. but hey, i'm an icu nurse -- but the icu threads aren't usually funny!

we have an interesting and effective way of dealing with these drug seeking, experienced consumers of healthcare services ( love that phrase!)

after we determine they don't have pathology...and treat them with the nsaid dijour, we look at their face sheet and if they (invariably) live more than ten miles away from our ed, we put their address into mapquest, print up a map, and put little red dots on the map to indicate the approximate location of all of the hospitals they passed on the way to our ed....

this, all done with the highest degree of compassion( with a straight face) and, with the hope that their future care is not delayed due to their being unaware of the resources available to them closer to their home.

Last year our hospital came up with a Narcotic Policy in that the ER MD's will not give narcotics for Chronic Pain. It is up to the pts PMD to manage their pain. They will give NSAIDS and suggest f/u with their PMD.....Now that is all well and good but you have those MD's who still give out Narcs and those who wont give anything. It has cut down the ##'s of seekers but not all.

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