What if you know for a fact that someone is actually suffering? How much compassion can you feel for that person?

That’s a tough one, Bill— we had a situation this week where an older lady who said her eyes felt like they were burning came into the pharmacy asking for her eye drops. I looked her up and there were no scripts ready for her. I asked what the doctor was supposed to have sent over and she said she didn’t know — she had just been to the doctor that morning. She then gave me a piece of paper on which the doctor she had seen had written the brand name of some eye drops and layperson’s jargon on how she was supposed to take them. Unfortunately, that did not count as a bonafide Rx because it did not have any info about the doctor (name, address, identifiers, etc.), a specified quantity or number of refills, the doctor’s signature, etc. I explained this to her and she became very agitated— the pharmacist then intervened, and both of us asked if the doctor had given her any other pieces of paper— maybe one of them was the hardcopy prescription. She said she didn’t know and had gotten lots of papers and they were back at her home. My pharmacist then asked who the doctor was so she could call them, and she didn’t know that either. I get that she was in pain, and yes, I felt badly for her. I also get that she didn’t understand how the process works. But i also felt a bit irritated because this woman was not being conducive either. Did she have a prescription? She didn’t know. Who was her doctor? She didn’t know. Where had she been seen? She didn’t know. For ****’s sake, own your health.