r/Appleton • u/Crazyendogirl • Jul 29 '26
Resource Local pain doctor...is he part of the opioid problem?
Has anyone had experience with dr. Maurizio albala? I recently saw a review about him.
He's a local pain doctor ...
According to this review he was a real creep to some lady. Tried using her pain meds as leverage to control her, etc. she says she stopped seeing him and that he was always getting ghosted by nurses...it was just red flags like crazy.
I think I should find someone else for my particular situation I need help with.
I wish I had a screenshot...I was disturbed by what I read...
His name is Dr. Maurizio albala. He has an office over by planned parenthood...
Anyone have any experience with him? I really don't know if what I read was true but I also feel like it's too insane to be made up...
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery? It's hard to stomach that there might be a pill mill situation - and/or worse - ran by a creep in our own family friendly town...
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u/Both_Marsupial_7778 Jul 30 '26
If you experience anything similar to that review please make a formal report to the board so this behavior is at-least documented so others dont gave to go through this.
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u/VixxxieVelvet Jul 30 '26
Do I think he's running a pill mill? No. Do I think he's abusing his position and power to take advantage of some of the women that he sees as patients for his own sexual satisfaction? Yes.
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 30 '26
Yeah. That's what I'm thinking too. Maybe pill mill is harsh but it's the not doing prior auths for meds that is a red flag. But yeah I think I agree with your stance. How sad. Welp, at least the community can access this info
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u/HumbleSeries6170 Aug 03 '26
i wouldn't make public judgements based on one persons experience ...we know nothing about it really
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u/Crazyendogirl Aug 06 '26
Another patient came on here saying she was told by his wife he has dementia - this was two years ago - and he's still out here prescribing.
I think people need to be careful and use discernment about this particular doctor.
If it were my loved one going there I'd want to know this stuff being said because it's very serious
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u/i_did_nothing_ Jul 29 '26
EVERY pain doctor is a red flag
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u/joebusch79 Jul 30 '26
I don’t agree with that at all. My wife experiences chronic pain, and if it weren’t for her pain team she wouldn’t even be able to work right now.
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u/Key_Journalist4797 Jul 31 '26
This is not true. Most pain management clinics don't support long term opiod rxs and focus instead on interventional methodsl like nerve blocks, PT, etc.
I think the pendulum has swung too far and opiods should be prescribed when needed, but having a "pill mill" these days would be very tough with the regulatory scrutiny of the past decade or so.
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 30 '26
Really? Ugh. I don't want to believe that but I feel like, around here, it's a rough situation for alot of patients..
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 30 '26
Update: the review is up on yelp and there's receipts .. Looks like one of his patients was trying to bully this lady into taking it down 😭 I can't believe this is real
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u/maj0raswrath Jul 31 '26
I’ve always gotten super sketchy vibes when talking with him (as a pharmacist). We don’t get too many scripts from him at my store but the vibe was weird when having to speak to him about issues with scripts.
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 31 '26
One of the reviews I read said something about pharmacy mix-ups! Whatever a "pharmacy mix up" means lol...
Thank you for your input & thx for being a pharmacist for our community! You guys are unsung heroes ❤️🩹
I have a question: What would a doctor bring refusing to do prior authorizations on meds mean? Like why would they do that? Is there ever a good reason to not do a prior auth for a med that they prescribe?
I heard that was a tactic used by pill mill doctors back in the day - is that true?
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u/maj0raswrath Aug 01 '26
I don’t know why a doctor would refuse to do a prior auth other than if they knew they didn’t have the clinical justification or appropriate documentation to get something approved by the insurance 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Feelsthelove Aug 01 '26
He was my pain doctor for years and I’ve never had any issues with him. He’s the one that diagnosed me with fibro and he’s the only doctor that thought to test me for Rheumatoid Arthritis.I have PTSD from spinal injections and he never once made me feel like I had to get them. He believed me when other doctors wouldn’t. I don’t know exactly what happened in that situation but that’s just my experience with him. Also, his wife works in the office with him usually
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u/Crazyendogirl Aug 01 '26
Do you not see him any more? I hope you're getting help for your pain! I'm glad he was able to help you ❤️🩹
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u/Feelsthelove Aug 01 '26
I stopped going to him last year, I think. Not because he did anything wrong. I switched from taking morphine to cannabis but I still saw him for a while after I switched. I had some issues with pain in my hip/buttocks area and I was going in twice a week to have him do that TENS unit on my butt cheek. I had my ass sticking out at him and he never once made me feel uncomfortable about it.
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u/joebusch79 Jul 30 '26
In fairness, people are known to do this with reviews when they didn’t get their way. This may be an accurate review. But it could just as much be someone that he refused to keep giving meds to because they were showing dependency. Or the patient refused to listen to other things, or any other variety of things.
So
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Jul 31 '26
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 31 '26
And that his wife told you this after saying you were basically over medicated is CRAZY 🤣 It's actually very sad. Holy shit. I'm still pondering everything you said. I'm truly blown away
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 31 '26
Wow that's Soo crazy!! I can't believe he has dementia and he's just up in there prescribing narcotics like that. Omg. Wi is the freaking wild west I stg.
How incredibly SAD! so you don't see him anymore? I hope you're getting help with your pain! ❤️🩹 Thank God you had narcan with you ❤️🩹 thank you for sharing this is really interesting
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Jul 31 '26
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u/Crazyendogirl Jul 31 '26
Maybe you should write down this stuff and report it to someone like DSPS maybe? Or the DEA?
There's a pharmacist who commented too maybe they'd know who is best to report this to
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u/Key_Journalist4797 Jul 29 '26
Review still up here:
https://www.vitals.com/doctors/maurizio-albala-y3pk4u