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Let's not go too far to one-sided cherry picking. https://intervention911.com/common-signs-of-drug-seeking-behavior/ https://intervention911.com/common-signs-o

Let's not go too far to one-sided cherry picking. https://intervention911.com/common-signs-of-drug-seeking-behavior/ https://intervention911.com/common-signs-of-drug-seeking-beh... - laiming they need more drugs to replace a lost or stolen prescription - Misrepresenting their symptoms - Frequent visits to multiple doctors, including a willingness to travel to a different city or state to see a new physician – a phenomenon called “doctor shopping” - Unwillingness or inability to provide a complete health history or contact information for previous physicians It's possible for a non-addicted person to do this, but actual statistics matter.

curryst 6y ago
Many of these things are uncommon, but not particularly rare among non-addicts. > Claiming they need more drugs to replace a lost or stolen prescription Have you really never lost a prescription? I've lost portions of mine once or twice (i.e. I had a week left and lost the bottle). Luckily not having mine is more of an annoyance than anything, but I can empathize for someone in pain who lost theirs. Stealing medications is common in addicts as well, and for every addict that steals a prescription, there's someone that legitimately did have their prescription stolen. > Misrepresenting their symptoms If this can be shown objectively, I can't see any way a non-addict would do this. I fear that it sows distrust between the patient and the doctor, though. The doctor is always looking for signs of the patient misrepresenting symptoms, and the patient is always worried that the doctor is going to think that they're misrepresenting their symptoms. > Frequent visits to multiple doctors, including a willingness to travel to a different city or state to see a new physician – a phenomenon called “doctor shopping” Uncommon, but it wouldn't be entirely shocking for someone to travel for access to a better doctor. This wouldn't be that out there for someone who has cancer, for example. > Unwillingness or inability to provide a complete health history or contact information for previous physicians I've moved a few times in my life. My complete health history probably involves 30 or so doctors if we go back to childhood. I don't think I could even name all of them, much less have contact info for them. The statistics do matter, but we're talking about subjecting people to pain here. The evidentiary bar should probably be higher than "you did a thing that addicts are statistically more likely to do". I think especially so when the worst case scenario is that we give an addict a fix. I'm not advocating drug use, but the harm caused seems pretty minimal, beyond the cost of administering that dose in a hospital.

curryst 6y ago

Many of these things are uncommon, but not particularly rare among non-addicts. > Claiming they need more drugs to replace a lost or stolen prescription Have you really never lost a prescription? I've lost portions of mine once or twice (i.e. I had a week left and lost the bottle). Luckily not having mine is more of an annoyance than anything, but I can empathize for someone in pain who lost theirs. Stealing medications is common in addicts as well, and for every addict that steals a prescription, there's someone that legitimately did have their prescription stolen. > Misrepresenting their symptoms If this can be shown objectively, I can't see any way a non-addict would do this. I fear that it sows distrust between the patient and the doctor, though. The doctor is always looking for signs of the patient misrepresenting symptoms, and the patient is always worried that the doctor is going to think that they're misrepresenting their symptoms. > Frequent visits to multiple doctors, including a willingness to travel to a different city or state to see a new physician – a phenomenon called “doctor shopping” Uncommon, but it wouldn't be entirely shocking for someone to travel for access to a better doctor. This wouldn't be that out there for someone who has cancer, for example. > Unwillingness or inability to provide a complete health history or contact information for previous physicians I've moved a few times in my life. My complete health history probably involves 30 or so doctors if we go back to childhood. I don't think I could even name all of them, much less have contact info for them. The statistics do matter, but we're talking about subjecting people to pain here. The evidentiary bar should probably be higher than "you did a thing that addicts are statistically more likely to do". I think especially so when the worst case scenario is that we give an addict a fix. I'm not advocating drug use, but the harm caused seems pretty minimal, beyond the cost of administering that dose in a hospital.