Scam of the month

Drug Store News, Nov 19, 1990

Scam of the Month

An expensive van, transporting a driver and four elderly passengers (each of whom is missing a leg) pulls into town. The van stops at the first available outside telephone. The youthful driver begins to randomly contact local doctors, requesting appointments for his passengers. Moved by the urgency of the medical condition described ("My grandmother's from out of town and she has an artificial leg. Her stump is very sore, I think it's infected. She's really in pain."), most of the doctors agree to an immediate appointment. After numerous visits are scheduled, the driver carefully charts the most efficient route to deliver his patients.

As each wheelchair-borne amputee arrives at the doctor's office, the driver makes individual inspections. If the stump being checked doesn't appear sufficiently aggravated, sandpaper is used to produce the desired effect. A convincing, well practiced, story is told why the grandmother can't use any pain medication except Dilaudid. The sympathetic physician usually issues the requested prescription, normally for a large quantity ("Grandmother won't be able to see her regular doctor for at least two weeks.")

After the Dilaudid prescriptions are filled (one per pharmacy), the drugs are immediately sold to local drug dealers and the con artists are on their way to another town. The street price for a single 4 mg Dilaudid tablet ranges from $55 to $60. Daily profits from such operations run as high as $5,000.

CAUTION: Pharmacists should verify all Dilaudid prescriptions with the physician involved. The identity of the person presenting the prescriptions should be verified by recording license numbers, Social Security numbers, etc. on the prescriptions.