someone has been on diazepam for over 20 years. his dr. he has been seeing for over 2 years, gives him scripts and so on. he at one time did alot of blood testing, and the bill was $200.00. this patient has paid all but $75.00 of this bill, because he has no insurance and no job. he made an appt. and went back to see the dr. and when brought in the room, he told the nurse that he didn't have all the money for the appt. and she pulled off the blood pressure cuff and told him that he could not be seen without the payment for that day. so now he has no way to get the diazepam that he has been on for years. is this legal and what can he do about it?

I do believe a doctor has the right to refuse service. But cold-turkeying a patient off a benzo is unethical and can be harmful. He should of at least done something or given information to insure the patient would still get his medication somehow.

Emergency rooms don't refuse service so if he goes into withdrawals he should go to one; benzodiazepine withdrawals can be dangerous and even fatal so I'd go to an ER at the first sign of symptoms.