why did my doctor refuse to give me pain meds after i was sent home from my c section?

Question

I was in horrific pain when she sent me home with motrin. i could not nurse, move, thus, my healing took extra long. i called her over and over crying, and she only gave me enough for one day. she said that she had her own reasons for not giving pain meds but was never clear on what they were. i was in the navy, no drug problems, everything was fine. so why couldnt she give me anything better than that. i have no good memories like anyone else of coming home and spending time with my family because the pain was so bad i could hardly stop crying or being bitchy. is it illegal not to treat pain like this, and what can i do?

ok yeah, breastfeeding, but you know what, i couldnt breastfeed anyway because the baby on my tummy was so painful. i told the doc this, and told her that atleast with meds id be able to bond with baby, since i cant nurse anyways, so any one got any other answers please

pain is different to everyone, my 10 might be someones 5, so my question is, is it illegal to not treat pain adequately

Drdrew, its illogical to assume all doctors will have the same opinions as you. I should have specified that i didnt want a doctor to answer this question, i was hoping for some support, and alot of you commenters gave me that, thank you so much. Did you even read my whole question? Enough with the man with the splinter, child with a compound fracture bull, and whats with the pay phone thing? Did your buddies at med school tell you that was the proper way to explain pain management? Ha ha ha. Guess what, people actually are intelligent enough to understand things without pay phone metaphors. Any idiot can become a doctor.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, every doctor regardless of where they practice (hospital, private practice, clinic) has the right to make *personal* ethics decisions regarding your medication.

A doctor once refused to give me non-addictive pain medication for something because she was a pro-lifer and I couldn't remember my last menstrual cycle. Oh yeah. No joke. Even though I clearly stated I didn't want children and would have an abortion if... She wouldn't budge. That's not even my worst story.

In future situations you might want to sit down with your doctor before surgery and ask what medications, if any, you'll be sent home with and where they stand on the issue of pain medications in general. You want someone who will meet you halfway on the issue.

Some disagreement and some strictness is good because it keeps you safe should you become addicted. You don't want someone who will give you anything you ask for. That's not in your best interest.

Answer 2

My OBGYN gave me tylenol with codine and scared me about using it and having it go in to my breast milk I think I took one and left the rest. I didn't really have any major pain after the first 24 hours anyway. When I did say I had pain at the hospital my doctor just said "yeah, get used to 18 more years of it" and then ask if I wanted something stronger that would mean putting a hold on nursing. I said no and just sucked it up and dealt. The nurses kept me up and moving and that alone seemed to make a big difference-I was walking the ward with in 3 hours of surgery. And my mom is a nurse, she is freinds with several of the nurses there so I know I was getting excellent care. I think today doc's who know you want to nurse err on the side of caution. My doctor didn't want me to take any migraine meds during pregnancy or while nursing, said to avoid pain meds as much as possible, and try to do breathing exercises to help with pain. I was amazed at how well I did without those meds to fall back on.

Answer 3

Any dr. who sends a patient home with a surgical incision and without pain meds is an insensitive jerk. You should call the hospital where she practices, and speak to the Chief of Staff and Administrator. Let them know how she treated you, and sent you home without any pain relief after Surgery, without giving you a good reason.

Unfortunately, I don't think what she did is illegal, as prescription writing is at the physician's discretion. However, it does border on malpractice, if you truly were/are in a great deal of pain.

In the meantime, you might want to call her office one last time, and ask for pain meds and an explanation. If that fails, go to your regular doc or ER and they will help you.

Please find another OB next time. And ask lots of questions....beforehand. Bless you. Hope you feel better soon.

Answer 4

It's because you are breastfeeding and also they want to make sure you are alert and responsive when you are at home. It's one thing in the hospital when you are being monitored 24 hours a day, but once you get home, they don't know if anyone will be there with you, so they don't risk it. My doctor had me alternating motrin and tylenol and I was ok....I mean it wasn't the best, but everyone responds to pain differently. The only thing I could suggest is to not miss a dosage of your motrin by even a minute, so you can try to stay ahead of the pain. Avoid stairs and try to sit or lay as much as possible if you have help at home. Good luck and congratulations.

Answer 5

I believe that it should be illegal to ignore a patient's plea to be treated for pain. Prescribing and administering pain medication is at the discretion of the doctor alone.

Drug seekers have caused a lot of trouble for people who suffer real pain. I have a chronic pain problem. I have pancreatitis and neuropathy. When I had my very first acute attack, I had a Very Difficult time getting enough medication to manage my pain. That time it was the nurses' fault for not relating my misery to my doctor despite my tears and moans.

Anyway, what I do now is that I talk to doctors about their beliefs in pain management Before I choose them. A doctor works for you. You and or your insurance is paying them. If they refuse to discuss your medical needs with you, then you should be able to fire that doctor and get a new one.

I hope that at least you can register a complaint with your state's medical board. Also make a complaint against the doctor to your insurance company. I am Very Sorry for your experience.

Answer 6

I wish I knew their motives, because my OB did the same thing to me, twice.

Each time I went to my GP, who did prescribe adequate pain relief. If you're still in pain, go to your family doctor tomorrow.

If it's past that point, there's nothing really to be done. You might want to write a letter to the doctor and the hospital explaining how this treatment negatively affected the first week or two of your time with your new baby.

It won't likely change their behaviour, but it will help you if you vent.

Answer 7

If you have a Doctor that doesn't give you the medical reasons for her actions then its time for a new Doctor. If you were breastfeeding then that was why she didn't give you a narcotic pain reliever, but she should have told you the medical reasons for doing so.There could be more to it then that though. Sorry you had to go through such a rough time.

Answer 8

I don't understand these kinds of doctors at all, to me they are living in the dark ages and shouldn't be practicing medicine. There are alot of doctors out there who do not perscribe narcotics. Whether they have had problems with the DEA previously or what, I don't know. To me there is no excuse to let someone be in pain. I would report her to someone. I don't know if you'll get anywhere, being in the Navy and all, but I would do it anyway. I hope you feel better now and congratulations on your baby.

Answer 9

You had major surgery. The doctor should give you pain meds.
Call and demand some pain meds.

Answer 10

As a physician, I often review some questions and I wanted to answer because I dont think anyone has considered the point of view of the physician and some comments about pain meds from my personal practice.

1. I am not sure why your physician did not give you pain medicine and the question can only be addressed by you and your doctor. No one on YAHOO will be able to answer your question without guessing.

2. It has been MY PERSONAL experience that there are always two sides to every story and I bet your doctor has a good reason for not giving you medicine.

3. Giving pain pills is a big issue for physicians for many reasons...
a. We are told consistently in medical school to "do no harm" and they always use the example of getting your patient addicted to pain pills.
b. We know these medicines are addictive and it scares us because it is really hard to get a license and we dont want to loose it.
c. As a doctor, I can tell you that doctors like numbers and pain is invisible (actually subjective). If we had a test to say, you have 9/10 pain we'd give meds... sometimes I see an adult man begging for pain meds over a splinter and sometimes I see a child with a bone sticking out who just sits there and only say "ouch" if you ask.
3. It is REALLY important to realize that our GOVERNMENT is really weak in health care matters. They send us notes from the FDA saying, you gave a patient pain pills and that patient got pain pills from 6 other doctors this month and your license could be reviewed. What about the patient who is doctor shopping? Other countries require a pain med prescription to be approved by the gov't. It prevents abuse of the medication and if you try to prescribe a pain med to a patient who already got a full prescription, the gov't says, this patient can only get meds now from a single pain management doctor (or an addiction specialist).

4. Here is some advice I can give regarding pain meds and to address some answers already posted.
- Call your doctor and ask for an appt, dont just call the office, sometimes your doctor does not get the message.
- Get a primary care doctor who knows you and they will give you pain meds because they know you're not a drug seeker even if your surgeon refuses.
- Do not go to the ER. An ER physician will not give you pain meds to go home on because they will question why your doctor will not give you pain meds. They might call your doctor as speak with them. Your doctor will then think you're shopping for meds.

5. Here is the way a non medical person might think about pain med prescriptions. Imagine its like a cell phone that costs 50 cents a minute to make a call and $2 for long distance. You're walking down a city street and some guy asks to use your phone. Immediately, you wonder why are they asking me (and not their doctor). Second, they have a friend with a phone. You wonder why they dont use their friends phone, maybe this person has abused the friends phone and the friend does not share his phone (like why didn't you ask your primary doctor). Finally, imagine you once let someone use your phone and they called Europe (you've been burned giving meds before)....

Anyways, sorry for the long response but these are my thoughts.