CVS Pharmacist decides if you will get your medicine. Not your actual prescription.

Depends on the medication--some medications like Percocet or MS
Contin, Oxy Contin etc are Schedule 2 Narcotics that require a new
HANDWRITTEN rx each and every time. I have a feeling the expired
issue is because MEDICAID (at least where I used to work in Maryland)
had regulations on how long RX's could be filled in Maryland the
medicaid rx has to be filled within 10 days of the written date or
they would not cover it. This is not the pharmacists fault. Also it
is possible that they did not have the 40mg of that medication in
their stock. Or they may have seen something with the prescription
that they thought was suspicious and instead of confronting you they
may have been hoping that you would just go away. I also find it
strange that you drove 2 hours to get your medication and had "lots of
at home from the other pharmacy in this strength" why did you not go
to the old pharmacy? Me smells a rat!!

Hit enter instead of tab....

Anyhoo, I suspect she's getting something like Methadone or Oxycontin,
both of which come in a 40mg strength, and are more highly controlled
than valium is. In fact, they are Control II meds, which means they
have different rules than Control III-V meds, which include the likes
of valium, vicodin, soma, blah blah. CII's need a new script
everytime, and there are things that we cannot call in to change on
them, unlike CIII-V scripts.

In my state, CII scripts are good for a year from the date they're
written, although, wierdly, CIII-V are only good for 6 months.

It may well be that the pharmacy was bumping up against some legal
problems with the script, and if that was the case, they rightly
couldn't fill it. For example, if the doctor had written for
oxycodone, not oxycontin or oxycodone ER, then the tech was correct in
saying there there's no 40mg strength, and the patient unfortunately
would have to take the paper back to the doctor to get fixed. It's a
bummer, but it's the law.

even though it should be!!

I am sorry to hear that you did not get your medication. I would like
to suggest, however, that next time you take your prescription to fill
you check things over before you leave and call the Dr's office if
there is an issue.

June,

I am sorry that you are in such chronic pain. Since you are taking a
controlled substance, the date IS very important when trying to get
the prescription filled. I believe that a controlled substance script
is only good for 30 days or so. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but
when my son was on meds for ADHD, it was a controlled substance and if
we didn't get the script filled within a month of the written date, we
had to get another prescription the NEXT month and wallow through
until then. This is possibly what happened with yours, the doctor
wrote the wrong date on it. No fault of yours :0)

I do think that Denise should have explained this to you while you
were there.