Some people may not be able to read the article because of location.
Another UK GP has been successfully sued for £70,000 damages for failing to warn a patient about the very high risk of gambling, impulse spending etc.
Let's hope that the more they are sued, the higher the likelihood of the UK medical authorities banning these dangerous drugs.
Good find Joolsg
Surprisingly I was able to read it from the US.
That's great about the award !!!
And then he was stopped cold turkey by the neurologist. Should sue him too.😀
I despair Sue. Most UK Neurologists know very little about RLS.
Hello Joolsg, thanks for posting I have actually read the whole article and it makes very sobering reading and I hope it has a very wide spread readership in medical circles.
An update, I’ve been taking 5 mg Oxycodone twice a day, 8 am and 8 pm but cant double up to 10 mg twice a day until 24 December and I’ve been going up the bloody wall. Sleeping in 20 min batches. The big issue is that I can’t get in touch with Doctor Murphy at Salford, his new secretary is off and has been all week and no one else in Neurology can help as know body answers there phones and can’t leave messages as that’s full up with messages from people like me. Hospital pharmacy has changed from Lloyds who were really helpful to Roland’s who don’t pick up the phone but need some sort of license to distribute Opiate medication and they no longer deliver but suggested that I booked a taxi to collect medication from the hospital.
If the Consultant can’t take it out of the hospital so I can pick it up from his private clinic, which would save me a three and a half hour journey how can we trust this medication with a taxi driver, the hospital pharmacy owes me the balance of the Oxycodone about 35% and have done for a week as they gave me all they had. Said they would phone me but haven’t and cutting me off each time I ring. What a flaming joke and there was I thinking I was out of the woods, but oh no, I’m walking the walk of 6 months ago, but in a very bad mood indeed 🤬😤😩😭🤯
HipHop1972
How utterly appalling. 5mg twice a day won't cover severe RLS. The average is 30mg a day! And it's licensed for RLS.Your area sounds so archaic. I've never had problems getting Oxycontin in any London pharmacy.
And Dr Murphy should have left detailed instructions for his patients..
Look at Dr Buchfuhrer. He answers our emails within 24 hours. For free. He's not even based in the UK.
It makes you realise the UK healthcare system is completely broken.
You should definitely complain. The Oxycontin low dose is not equivalent to the Buprenorphine you were taking. So you will suffer severe RLS.
I'm angry and appalled.
Hello Joolsg. Thanks for reply, I think it’s some issues with Salford Royal Outpatients Pharmacy since they took over from Lloyds who I had no problems with picking up the patches. My local pharmacist where I live doesn’t have any issues prescribing Buprenorphine tablets with a prescription but it’s getting that prescription from Doctor Murphy as he can’t post it to my home. He has written a very strongly worded letter to my GP Surgery on my behalf but no doubt it will have to be discussed at a GP meeting and I can bet your bottom dollar that the Senior Partner won’t contact me, he didn’t last time, but left it up to one of his minions to ring me and tell me why it’s impossible for the practice to prescribe the Buprenorphine tablets, if he still refuses then (the pox on him) as they used to say. I have upped the Oxycodone to 10 mg twice a day although that’s contrary to instructions which kick in on 24 Dec. I just need to get the balance of the prescription owing to me by Salford Royal which is difficult as the buggers don’t answer the phone. My wife sings in a very good coir and I’ve never missed a single concert in 12 years and they are singing JS Bach - Christmas Oratorio no mean feat with professional Soloists and orchestra. 😢
Kind regards HipHop1973
I really hope you make the concert.
Thanks Joolsg, but afraid not not, on way to bed as extremely tired and hope to get in an hour or two 🤞Hopefully increasing to 10 mg twice a day may help even though it wasn’t recommended until L the 14th but sometimes you have to do what you have to do being extremely sleep deprived for the last 6 days.
Kind regards HipHop1972
Hello Joolsg, my previous post should have read (not to increase to 19 mg twice a day until 24 Dec.) anyway I was back down stairs within 45 minutes better than last night .
Kind regards HipHop1972
A good outcome for him. But what nasty, unsympathetic comments on the article. Although i shouldn't expect anything different from Daily Mail.
70,000 would not come close to covering the damages, to family and friends. It is something though.
Is it my eyesight or did I read the offender as being a dopamine antagonist in the article?
You're correct. They've written antagonist instead of agonist. Daily Mail are infamous for getting information completely incorrect. They should have asked a doctor to check the information.
I have read it in the RLS-UK fb page. Seems at least one person thinks they should have read the leaflet as says it in the leafet. I left a comment wondering what dose he was on did his doctor increase it a few times then to give no advise to wean off and just stopped which caused him further horrible issues showed doctors have no idea the affect these dopamine meds have on our bodies and minds
Further article on Impulse Control Disorder as reported in The Times - 14 December 2024. Click on article to read in full.
Brilliant. Both newspapers have picked up the story.
It's news stories such as this that, hopefully, will help alert the populace about this misunderstood illness and its devastating and debilitating grasp it has on so many.
I really hope so.
We heard from EARLS that this story has also appeared in French newspapers.
Also in the Independent , Barrons, yahoo news and Punch Newspapers. Didn't make it to the US though.
There could be no case in the USA. Big pharma settled class actions over a decade ago and the leaflets now contain explicit warnings. However, UK law is more generous than US law in favour of the litigant in this instance. And the view here in the UK is that despite the leaflets containing a warning, doctors must still point out this common, dangerous side effect. It is based on Breach of Duty by the doctor. The main case upon which further action has been taken is set out in the Frankel case.ukhealthcarelawblog.co.uk/a...
My brother had Parkinson's and was prescribed co-careldopa. The Parkinson's team clearly explained the possibility of impulse control disorder and asked him to sign a printed doc confirming he'd been given that info and understood. At every appointment, he was asked if there was any signs of it and reminded to be alert to the possibility. When he was changed to rotigotine patches due to swallowing difficulties the whole explaining and signing was repeated.
The Parkinson's team clearly took the possibility of impulse control disorder very seriously, time GPs did the same.
That's great !!! And what they all should do.
Daily Mail on RLS
Controlling augmentation and impulse control issuesImpulse Control Disorder on Dopamine Agonists. TV Drama Mr Bates v The Post Office
Dopamine Agonists/Impulse Control Disorder - real advancements afoot in blowing up the scandalImpulse Control Disorder (spending/gambling/overeating/hypersexuality) on dopamine agonists.
