She didn't know her name.

[cinema guy]

I've heard of Saint-John Stevens pronounced 'Sinjon Stevens', but never Henshaw = Hand

And the prices of prescriptions, OMFG!

[Shalom]

Phhht. That's nothing. I had one once for $1300. One of the really good brand-name painkillers. Guy didn't have insurance and didn't bat an eye at the price.

My bet is that he was selling them on the street. Probably turned a nice profit, even at that price.

Any time I see someone with a narcotic prescription and he claims not to have insurance that rings several loud alarm bells in my head. That prescription will be given extra scrutiny, occasionally including calling the doctor to see 1) did he really write that script, or did his Rx pad go walkabout? and 2) in case he really did write the script, whether the patient really doesn't have insurance.

(Cash scripts at independent pharmacies in this state aren't recorded anywhere except in the pharmacy's own records, so I have no way of knowing if he didn't just fill the same script from some other doctor at some other pharmacy. If it's on insurance, or if it's at a chain pharmacy, we can tell if he just got a month's supply two days ago. And just by the way, I don't stock brand name OxyContin... the real pain patients all tell me they do fine on the generics, and the junkies and street-corner pharmacists can bugger off somewhere else.)

Regarding the original topic, I had a situation once where someone came in asking for a prescription her doctor had allegedly called in (I forget what, it might have been for a yeast infection or something). She said her name was Tory. No such person, no such call. Finally I ask her for her date of birth, and start going through the records; eventually I come across a call-in for a mrs Torricelli that wasn't filled because we had no record of her. I ask her if that's her, and she says, yes, Torricelli is her real name, but she goes by Tory because it's easier. I tell her that now I know who she is, I can fill her prescription. She says what, it's not ready yet? and I tell her that I can't fill a prescription for someone who I don't know who it is. She asks, So why didn't you call me?

I just stared at her for a moment, and when I'd got control of myself, I answered, "Normally we do call patients if we have a problem filling their prescriptions. In this case, though, since I had no idea who [thinks but doesn't say: "the hell"] you were, how [again thinks but doesn't say: "the hell"] was I supposed to call you?" She digested that and said "Hmmph." and shut up.

(Obviously not the real name, but the same ethnicity and length.)

Shalom
Registered pharmacist