"But right now were trying to get the message out that hoarding prescription drugs is not only unnecessary, it could be dangerous". Glenda Owens, PAcific Care HMO

Yes, it could be dangerous.. but to whom? If the JIT supply line is disrupted at any one of a myriad points, and you are out of insulin, heart medication, etc., who are you going to call?

Your HMO or health plan? "sorry, all circuits are busy; if this is an emergency, call 911"

The 50 million dollar a year CEO? "Sorry she is unavailable and can't take any questions at this time"

The $75,000 PR stooge? "...but there was no we could have anticipated..."

Y2K Pro, doomer@debunk? "That address no longer exists..."

Just some thoughts from a doc who has seen the transition to corporate medicine. Sorry, medicine is Just-in-Case, not Just-in-Time.

Nelson B. Isada MD FACOG, FACOG (MFM), FACMG, FACP.

-- Nelson Isada (isada@alaska.net), November 22, 1999

Answers

Amen. Step up and take control of your life right now. Do not depend on the insurance companies, CEO's, PR stooges, etc. You decide what you want/need and make it happen. I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6 anyday.

-- anonymous (anonymous@anonymous.com), November 22, 1999.

I am glad he used his real name when stating his opinion.

-- Linda Arnold (adahi@muhlon.com), November 22, 1999.

"Dangerous" is dependent on the medication and its required storage. The vast majority of medications are not "dangerous" to have a 30 or 60 days supply of.

What is MORE dangerous to hear and be told consistently by the government the truth, that there is no possible way it can acquire enough potassium iodine for the populace, in even a limited one major city crises, and one does not then take care of self and have ones own potassium iodine on hand. Always and forever the populace refuses to take care of its self and continues to sit highly dependent on some vague and mysterious "Daddy" to take care of itself.

What the pharmacists are afraid of is that they won't be able to raise prices due to scarcity, and GOUGE if everyone has a bit of his or her own prescription.

I am not on any prescription medication but I certainly have empathy for those that are facing this crises. And even more empathy for the 45 million who have been living in a medical TEOTWAWKI for years now. Funny, I don't see Pacific Care HMO offering health care to all those people it's so utterly, and I do mean utterly, concerned about. I'd like some proof in the pudding of Pacific Cares utterly so concerned stance about "the people." How about a little health care coverage where the mouth is?

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 22, 1999.

Thank you, Dr. Isada! I spent almost 25 years in the health care field, or 'industry', as it is aptly called these days. You've hit the nail on the head.

My internist understands "Just in case". I wish more physicians had the guts and the brains to do the same.

Keep the faith!

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

I just finally got my doctor to write me a 6 month supply for some of my medication (non-life-threatening, it just makes life a bit more livable).

The first bottle was for 75 pills. (the bottle that the product comes in is 60 pills, so they had to draw from 2 bottles)

This is supposed to be a months supply. so I tried an experiment, I tried Walgreens touch-tone refill service and refilled the prescription 5 days later.

I went to pick it up, no apparent problems. Then I checked the bag. The bottle was the original bottle from the pharm.co of 60 pills.

I asked the Walgreen's clerk what the deal was. After a couple of minutes, he came back and told me the pharmacist said that "that was all we had".

WOW, I wish I'd been able to ramp up the JIT on this prescription!

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), November 22, 1999.

Thanks for all the responses.

My dad taught the first computer program course (for civil and mechanical engineers) in the New York SUNY system; my folks still use Hollerith punch cards for shopping lists. I learned Fortran 4 when I was ~11 yrs old.

Although my dad thinks Y2K will be No Big Deal, he has 90 days worth of medicine. I guess if you live through the Great Depression, see all the wise guys from the city starving and begging at your family's farm in the Philippines, live through the Japanese occupation (shrapnel deaths and beheadings), one's opinions are tempered by life's reverses. [very editorial remark - I wonder how old Y2K pro is, and what s/he has seen of life; I almost choked when I saw a 28 year-old programmer righteously holding forth on an earlier thread; it reminded me of a 26 year-old ob/gyn intern saying, in all seriousness, "why, I have _never_ seen anything like that"; the fact was, at that point in her career, she hadn't seen anything].

/NBI

-- Nelson Isada (isada@alaska.net), November 22, 1999.

Right on, Dr. Nelson Isada. Those who haven't had the misfortune of working in a hospital recently have no idea the extent of automation, harried pace, JIT, and lack of attention to remediation. No idea. And the stranglehold creeping into Dr. offices & clinics, red paperwork, gatekeepers, pressure. Divert, divert, where are they going to send thousands of desperate patients?

Our minds can't even go there any more ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), November 22, 1999.

My doctor GI, has done for over a year. We got him on board by showering him with information every time we went to visit. He got his family ready, and got his neighbors ready. We got the prescriptions we needed. Persuading your doctor can be one of the best preps you can make.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), November 23, 1999.

Thank you, Dr. Isada, for your input here. I wish we ALL had GI doctors! Mine wouldn't even accept a neatly-prepared folder of information. I had to send overseas for a 90-day supply, since my health plan and doctor both said, "No problems ahead!"

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

It's very late to be trying to get 90 days worth of medication ahead. Most docs are sensitive to the dynamics of panic. But, when you consider the alternative, it's worth trying to obtain.

-- Leslie (***@***.net), November 23, 1999.