What Happens When Patients Won't Take Meds?

You're here reading Shrink Rap, so you may think this is a post about patients who refuse to take psychiatric medications, and non-compliance with psychiatric medications gets to be it's own issue.  So it caught my attention when Dr. Albert Fuchs tweeted that he was interviewed by NPR about "What happens when patients won't take medicines."  Dr. Fuchs is a primary care doc with a concierge practice in Beverly Hills, so I wanted to hear what he had to say, and I invested 6 minutes of my life in listening to his NPR talk -- you may want to go to the website and listen as well.  He makes a good point about being cautious when an addictive medication is prescribe, and he notes that in Los Angeles people are pro-health, anti-medication and perhaps that skews who he sees, but that medication refusal is common.  I'm thinking that by the time you're paying an outrageous concierge fee to your primary care doc that either you're ill and  feel you need extra attention or money's not an issue in your life -- after all it's Beverly Hills.  But my other thought is why would someone invest in this type of care if they are not going to follow the doctor's suggestions?  If you're going to blow your doc off, do it when there's a $20 co-pay.   That said, I'm not exactly the best of patients, and I've had a doctor who has wanted me to take calcium supplements for years.  She is insistent.  One look at me and one thing is clear: I'm well nour...
Source: Shrink Rap - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs