My mother is addicted to oxycontin. She is 73 years old. The doctors ignore me. What should I do?

The addiction is of concern especially if it affects her loved ones, husband and/or her ability to take care of herself or manage a household. SO YES STEP IN! I would speak with the doctor again - in person with a written recap of all her meds, behavior and also outline who she has to care for (husband) and household. Tell him in no uncertain terms that if he does not stop prescribing all these medicines that you will report him and THEN DO IT! The worst that can happen is a medical board upholds his prescriptions and says they are warranted. The best that can happen is they stop prescribing.

Take your mom to another doctor (again with a full listing of all the prescriptions and non-prescription drugs) and have him give a full medical assessment. He can recommend a plan.

If all this is refused; not much more you can do legally other than to get APS involved or hire an outside geriatric care manager to come in and evaluate. She's young at 73 and if there aren't mental health issues or dementia/ALZ etc. then you will just have to let it go.

My mom was on Vicodin and living on her own and they kept renewing her prescription without seeing her and she was getting increasingly paranoid, delusional, etc. (precurser to her dementia or part of the undiagnosed dementia at the time). I was LIVID and I talked to the doctor and told them I WOULD REPORT THEM if I found one more prescription written without a thorough medical work up. They stopped and wouldn't even see her after that. I was furious that a back pain specialist (dr) would prescribe such a drug and keep renewing prescription to a frail (90 lb) 90 year old patient without having her couple the pain med with forced physical therapy -- it was unethical. On top of that, her regular family doctor was prescribing drugs and wasn't aware of the vicodin and hydrocodone she was getting elsewhere. Its a nightmare and when they get through ordering online and from a pharmacy -- there is no way to track or find out if there are dangerous interactions.

REPORT THE SOB!

Capt you are too funny, thanks for the laugh. Oh how I wish I could say what you say, without feeling guilty.

so whats she going to do, damage her future employment prospects? ,hang with the wrong crowd? , make oxy her gateway to mainlining heroin?

Wow, I'm so sorry. Is there is a council on aging in your area? They should be able to arrange for a home visit and assessment, and possibly assign a case worker. Also the rehab center your mom was at might be able to direct you to the right resource. My mother's addiction/abuse has absolutely been the most stressful part of caregiving for me so far. In addition to abusing Oxy, she was mis-managing other meds (both her own and my Dad's). I tried to tell their doctor and felt so helpless when he just blew me off. The situation only resolved a couple weeks ago, when we moved my parents to assisted living, and only with the intervention of the wonderful nurse at the assisted living facility. She listened to me, and after her own assessment, agreed there was a big problem. When she confronted the doctor he acted like it was the first he'd heard of it and made some immediate changes. My mom is now taking Vicodin instead of Oxy (lesser of 2 evils, I guess), but more importantly, she's not managing her own meds anymore. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten a case worker or experienced nurse involved when my parents still lived in their home. I was afraid I was overstepping my bounds and that my mom would hate me (she did, but only for about a week). If you know there is a problem, don't give up until you find an advocate who will work with you and your mom's doctor.

What does she need pain meds for?? I'm sure the doctor is aware that she is addicted, but if she is in severe pain, then there is the possibility that the pros are outweighing the cons. 52 meds? How the heck is that possible?? She must have a number of illnesses that are being treated, right? Wow..

Who is prescribing her the oxycontin? Who is picking up her prescriptions and paying for them? The doctors writing the scripts need to be told she is addicted.