So What if You're A Lawyer!
Doctor ordered a painkiller for a patient in the middle of the night. No problems here except this particular painkiller, let's call it TC, was recently reclassified as a controlled drug (CD). Nurse was unable to obtain TC from A&E pharmacy, and paged the oncall pharmacist (me) for supply at 6AM. Told the nurse this drug is reclassified as CD so there is no way for anybody to supply after office hours because oncall pharmacist does not hold the key to the CD cupboard. Best bet is to ask the oncall doctor to change the order to some other painkiller or for that matter to some other CD that is already available in the ward.
Nurse then started telling me that the patient's husband was barking in the ward; he was not happy why he cannot get the drug and started telling anybody who is interested that he is a lawyer. Excuse me, so what if you are a lawyer. Is a lawyer above the law? How can you be a lawyer and do not know that the use of medicine is controlled by the Poisons Act, Medicines Act, and Misuse of Drugs Act in Singapore. I'm not even asking you to quote me sections or chapters from the acts, but fact is these laws are set in place to protect the public from their own stupidity when it comes to the use of medicines because Singaporeans have a tendency to think they know-all.
CDs, by the way, comes under the Misuse of Drugs Act. This is the very same act that states that if you dare come into Singapore smuggling cocaine, morphine or the likes, you'd be hung especially if the amount brought in exceeds that stated in the law. In the hospital, every single tablet and millilitre of controlled drug has to be accounted for, be it ingested by patients, or accidentally dropped onto the floor. Nurses hate it when accidents with CDs happen cos they have to fill up forms to account for every single step that led to the wastage of the CD. After filling up the forms they have to bag the CD and return to the pharmacy for the Central Narcotics Bureau officers to come and destroy. Everything is official, and has to be documented in black and white. It is that serious. Okay, I've side-tracked.
I am really pissed off when people abuse their positions in society. So what if you are a lawyer, am I suppose to be scared that you may be able to sue me? Can I counter-sue you for threatening me? It's ludicrous how people still live with such an ancient mindset that their profession gets them VIP treatment. Just imagine this, I go to Popular bookstore and the queue is super long, so I use my profession to threaten the cashier, "I'm a pharmacist, and if you don't speed up or don't let me go first, I will first, complain to your management and then make you wait just as long when you come to my pharmacy to collect medicine."
Back to a more serious note, the moment somebody says he/she is a lawyer, you immediately sit straighter, take longer to answer questions (you got to be sure you are not using inappropriate words that would land you in court), and 90% of the time you would acquiesce to their requests (we are just earning our daily bread, no need for bloodshed that is going to be paid with year end promotions and bonuses). As in any argument, usually the more vocal side wins, and these guys are trained to argue with logic. Pit your average stupid Singaporean, who cannot even speak standard English much less talk with logic, against these guys there is no need to guess who get their way in the end.
And the "I'm a lawyer" statement is just a ploy to scare the silly shit out of the average Singaporean so they do not even argue in the first place. Got to conserve the energy to argue with the likes of me who does not give a damn lawyer or not. Got to go catch some sleep. Stupid lawyer barking in the ward and disturbing everybody's sleep...
Nurse then started telling me that the patient's husband was barking in the ward; he was not happy why he cannot get the drug and started telling anybody who is interested that he is a lawyer. Excuse me, so what if you are a lawyer. Is a lawyer above the law? How can you be a lawyer and do not know that the use of medicine is controlled by the Poisons Act, Medicines Act, and Misuse of Drugs Act in Singapore. I'm not even asking you to quote me sections or chapters from the acts, but fact is these laws are set in place to protect the public from their own stupidity when it comes to the use of medicines because Singaporeans have a tendency to think they know-all.
CDs, by the way, comes under the Misuse of Drugs Act. This is the very same act that states that if you dare come into Singapore smuggling cocaine, morphine or the likes, you'd be hung especially if the amount brought in exceeds that stated in the law. In the hospital, every single tablet and millilitre of controlled drug has to be accounted for, be it ingested by patients, or accidentally dropped onto the floor. Nurses hate it when accidents with CDs happen cos they have to fill up forms to account for every single step that led to the wastage of the CD. After filling up the forms they have to bag the CD and return to the pharmacy for the Central Narcotics Bureau officers to come and destroy. Everything is official, and has to be documented in black and white. It is that serious. Okay, I've side-tracked.
I am really pissed off when people abuse their positions in society. So what if you are a lawyer, am I suppose to be scared that you may be able to sue me? Can I counter-sue you for threatening me? It's ludicrous how people still live with such an ancient mindset that their profession gets them VIP treatment. Just imagine this, I go to Popular bookstore and the queue is super long, so I use my profession to threaten the cashier, "I'm a pharmacist, and if you don't speed up or don't let me go first, I will first, complain to your management and then make you wait just as long when you come to my pharmacy to collect medicine."
Back to a more serious note, the moment somebody says he/she is a lawyer, you immediately sit straighter, take longer to answer questions (you got to be sure you are not using inappropriate words that would land you in court), and 90% of the time you would acquiesce to their requests (we are just earning our daily bread, no need for bloodshed that is going to be paid with year end promotions and bonuses). As in any argument, usually the more vocal side wins, and these guys are trained to argue with logic. Pit your average stupid Singaporean, who cannot even speak standard English much less talk with logic, against these guys there is no need to guess who get their way in the end.
And the "I'm a lawyer" statement is just a ploy to scare the silly shit out of the average Singaporean so they do not even argue in the first place. Got to conserve the energy to argue with the likes of me who does not give a damn lawyer or not. Got to go catch some sleep. Stupid lawyer barking in the ward and disturbing everybody's sleep...
posted by Yamosh at 9:18 AM
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