Sutherlin Drug pharmacist verbally abuses customer and denies her services

Here is the text of a letter sent to Sutherlin Drug of Sutherlin, Oregon back on May 11, 2020.

Re:  Refusal to send patient-requested refills?

Please clarify our understanding as reported by a patient who felt berated and slightly humiliated by your outburst in your store recently.

Basically, she relayed to us that you are refusing to forward to our office any further refill requests made by my patients.  Is that true?

If it is, please provide a written explanation as to your reasons for such action.

Pharmacies charge patients small service fees for counting out pills from a stock bottle, and gouge patients for the cost of pharmaceuticals when compared to the actual wholesale prices.  While some pharmacies may offer a better price compared to others, the price markups are still significant at times.

While you may have insurance contracts and such that may limit your fees, we have no such contracts with insurance companies and therefore we may charge for our time for any services provided, such as prior authorizations and more, and have explained such to our patients.

Depending on chart review (review of blood pressures, labs, and more), contact with the patient as needed to clarify informatin, and more, we may charge $10-15 for 3 to 5 faxed prescriptions (accumulated over time).  If a anew controlled substance prescription is required, that $10-15 may only coer 1-2 prescriptions based on time.

I would appreciate your written response by the end of the month.

Sincerely,

Dr. Darryl George

Affordable Integrative Medicine

832 NW Highland St.

Roseburg, OR  97470