Suboxone From Nurse Practitioner

I started taking Suboxone two years ago and it has been a very positive experience, I'm off the hydrocodone, tapering off Suboxone successfully, and it also saved my marriage. My husband and I recently moved to a different state, so I had to leave my very wonderful Suboxone doctor (an addiction specialist for 30 years). The Suboxone doctor I found in our new state has both a PA (Physician's Assistant) and a Nurse Practitioner who see patients. When I made my first appointment, I was surprised that it was with the PA and not the doctor. I was even more surprised to see the PA for my next 3 appointments, but the big shock came when I began seeing the Nurse Practitioner! In nine months, I saw the PA 4 times and the NP 5 times. I HAVE NEVER EVEN MET THE DOCTOR. When I scheduled these appointments, the secretary knew they were Suboxone follow ups and when I asked, I was told that I didn't need to see the doctor. It is my opinion that this is unethical at best, since the PA and NP know far less than I do about Suboxone. I'd like to know what others think of this, so if you have an opinion or know anything about why such a serious medication can be treated as "no big deal" by a doctor's office- or the legality of this, I'd just like to know. And yes, I am looking for a new doctor!

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I definitely agree with your opinion on the matter, but I think what may have happened here is that even though the nurse practitioner may have approved you for the prescription of it, all the doctor would've had to do is put his/her signature on the prescription for it to be completely valid. It could've even been signed ahead of time prior to your appointment if the doctor was too busy to see other patients.

It is my understanding that nurses are not allowed to sign anything, but they can authorize a prescription and consult with your .gp etc. She probably wouldn't risk her job over this I can assure you of that! I've heard of other similar situations with patients only seeing the nurse and not the doctor, but the prescribed pills were already signed by a doctor. Still unethical in my honest opinion (since you're paying to see the doctor himself), but I don't know what you can do, other than change physicians? :-/

I hope this helps!

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You are both wrong wrong wrong. A Physicians Assistant is the highest level of nursing and requires a very close amount of schooling that a doctor gets. They're basically a doctor without the title. Same thing with Nurse Practitioners. The only difference between the two of them as far as opiates are concerned is that the NP has to call in opiate prescriptions on the phone, where as PAs can fax and/or write the prescriptions for opiates. Both do not have to practice under the auspices of a doctor. There are many Nurse Practitioners that have their own private practices.
That is the legal part. Now, if you really would feel more comfortable with a psychiatrist, than go to a psychiatrist, but please do not assume these highly respected and highly educated medical professionals are not educated enough to be doing what they're doing solely because of their titles. That is offensive and very closed-minded. If you are worried because something that is legitimately unethical has happened, than of course you should go somewhere else, but to be so judgmental based on someone's title or lack of the D and R before their names is a little...ignorant.

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