"So listen..," Azir said swallowing his mouthful of tender juicy ham, as he took a sip of cold beer, picking up the thread of his story "Family Clinics are dead. Pain Clinics are the new way to go. It's a cash only business, no dealing with Medicare and Medicaid, fuck Blue Cross and Blue Shield! Damn government takes too long pay us anyway." Azir rolled his eyes and Michael nodded in agreement, Michaell still had not been paid for services he preformed years ago. Azir continued "We charge $100 bucks per visit, plus the 80% mark up on the pills. We can make about $200 off each patient, so if you had a full schedule, every day, we could make up to $9,000 in an eight hour day, that's $90,000 every ten days. $180,000 every twenty days. We could pull that in, and have every Saturday, Sunday and Monday off!"
Now it took Dr.Michael Cullen a few moments to do the math in his head, and when he realized what the numbers all broke down to, in relation to him and his time, Michael balked telling Azir "That equals 6 patients every hour. 48 patients in one fucking day? That leaves me only ten minutes with each person, you can not be serious. 10 minutes for an examination? No way!"
"Listen, ten minutes is a long time.., why in ten minutes I can get home, park my car in the garage, go upstairs, take a shower, make sweet love to my wife, and still have enough time to make a sandwich before Jeopardy with Alex Trebec starts." Azir said in all candor taking another bite of the huge sandwich.
Michael began to laugh saying "Oh your poor wife! You should send her to my place.., I'll give her something to hang her towel on!" Michael smiled as he joked with his friend, who did not appreciate his sentiment. "Six patients an hour, that's too many."
"Okay." Azir wiped his mouth saying "Five then, that would give you twelve and a half minutes."
"So what your really telling me is.., you want to open up a 'prescription mill'."
"Why not?"
"Well, it is illegal." Michael shook his head.
"Not if you don't get caught! As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, keep it on the down low, who will even notice our business?"
"What about the community? We provide a much needed service to the women and children that live there." Michael asked for he enjoyed treating his familiar, friendly clientele.
"That's what the charity hospital is for!" Azir said callously as he gorged on the some more of his tasty sandwich, however, Michael had suddenly lost his appetite.
"A cash only business?" was Michael's next question.
"Don't worry I will have security men inside the clinic at all times. We really could make a killing." Azir said then he stopped and thought for a moment then said "Sorry, I meant we can make a helluva lot of money, if we are careful and are only open four days a week.., and I know for a fact we would be the only pain clinic in operation, like this, in the entire city of Chicago!"
"I only know of two others..," Michael paused asking the waiter to box up the rest of his meal "There is one, down in Dallas and one, up in Detroit."
"There's two in Miami and one I've heard of in Atlanta."
Michael sat there watching Azir devour the rest of his onion rings as they sat in silence for a moment. Michael was deep in thought pondering the prospect of quick and easy money, realizing how nice it would be to pay off his creditors and pay back his student loans. For if he languished in debt it would take ten to fifteen years to pay everything off. And the longer it took him to pay off the balance, the more they charged him interest and penalties. At this rate, death may be his only tax relief! Michael was fully aware of his finances and he really was not that hard to convince. Michael was only worried about getting in trouble with the law and losing his medical license.
"It's not like what we would be doing is, really, illegal. You have a license to practice medicine and write prescriptions! I am legally authorized to dispense pain medication, the government just wants to regulate the number of patients we can see, and regulate the amount of money we make. That is so un-american! There are people out there who don't have insurance, or can't get government help, these people have pains they need us to help them. And we should be able to help as many people, and make as much money off them that we can! And that, my friend, is the American Dream to me." Azir took a breath, and Michael was sure Azir was about to start singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. "So my friend...," Azir said pushing his empty plate out of his way "What do you say? Do you need some time to think about?"
Michael gave Azir a very stern look as if to say 'if anything goes wrong and I end up in jail, I will kill you'. This made Azir sit up and take notice, he had never seen his good friend and colleague with such a hard, dour look upon his face, this frightened Azir a little, then Michael leaned forward extending his hand to Azir saying "When do we begin?"
Azir smiled with elation as he reached out shaking Michael's hand, saying "We have already started!"
Now it took Dr.Michael Cullen a few moments to do the math in his head, and when he realized what the numbers all broke down to, in relation to him and his time, Michael balked telling Azir "That equals 6 patients every hour. 48 patients in one fucking day? That leaves me only ten minutes with each person, you can not be serious. 10 minutes for an examination? No way!"
"Listen, ten minutes is a long time.., why in ten minutes I can get home, park my car in the garage, go upstairs, take a shower, make sweet love to my wife, and still have enough time to make a sandwich before Jeopardy with Alex Trebec starts." Azir said in all candor taking another bite of the huge sandwich.
Michael began to laugh saying "Oh your poor wife! You should send her to my place.., I'll give her something to hang her towel on!" Michael smiled as he joked with his friend, who did not appreciate his sentiment. "Six patients an hour, that's too many."
"Okay." Azir wiped his mouth saying "Five then, that would give you twelve and a half minutes."
"So what your really telling me is.., you want to open up a 'prescription mill'."
"Why not?"
"Well, it is illegal." Michael shook his head.
"Not if you don't get caught! As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, keep it on the down low, who will even notice our business?"
"What about the community? We provide a much needed service to the women and children that live there." Michael asked for he enjoyed treating his familiar, friendly clientele.
"That's what the charity hospital is for!" Azir said callously as he gorged on the some more of his tasty sandwich, however, Michael had suddenly lost his appetite.
"A cash only business?" was Michael's next question.
"Don't worry I will have security men inside the clinic at all times. We really could make a killing." Azir said then he stopped and thought for a moment then said "Sorry, I meant we can make a helluva lot of money, if we are careful and are only open four days a week.., and I know for a fact we would be the only pain clinic in operation, like this, in the entire city of Chicago!"
"I only know of two others..," Michael paused asking the waiter to box up the rest of his meal "There is one, down in Dallas and one, up in Detroit."
"There's two in Miami and one I've heard of in Atlanta."
Michael sat there watching Azir devour the rest of his onion rings as they sat in silence for a moment. Michael was deep in thought pondering the prospect of quick and easy money, realizing how nice it would be to pay off his creditors and pay back his student loans. For if he languished in debt it would take ten to fifteen years to pay everything off. And the longer it took him to pay off the balance, the more they charged him interest and penalties. At this rate, death may be his only tax relief! Michael was fully aware of his finances and he really was not that hard to convince. Michael was only worried about getting in trouble with the law and losing his medical license.
"It's not like what we would be doing is, really, illegal. You have a license to practice medicine and write prescriptions! I am legally authorized to dispense pain medication, the government just wants to regulate the number of patients we can see, and regulate the amount of money we make. That is so un-american! There are people out there who don't have insurance, or can't get government help, these people have pains they need us to help them. And we should be able to help as many people, and make as much money off them that we can! And that, my friend, is the American Dream to me." Azir took a breath, and Michael was sure Azir was about to start singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. "So my friend...," Azir said pushing his empty plate out of his way "What do you say? Do you need some time to think about?"
Michael gave Azir a very stern look as if to say 'if anything goes wrong and I end up in jail, I will kill you'. This made Azir sit up and take notice, he had never seen his good friend and colleague with such a hard, dour look upon his face, this frightened Azir a little, then Michael leaned forward extending his hand to Azir saying "When do we begin?"
Azir smiled with elation as he reached out shaking Michael's hand, saying "We have already started!"
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