http://cphtlink.com Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:00:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 http://cphtlink.com/2009/03/10/nevada-supreme-court-considers-pharmacy-liability-issue/ http://cphtlink.com/2009/03/10/nevada-supreme-court-considers-pharmacy-liability-issue/#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:00:00 +0000 Fred tag:drugtopics.modernmedicine.com://724dff19ee80dc715a8515cf8698fa88 Patricia Copening was under the influence of hydrocodone on June 4, 2004, when she slammed her Dodge Durango into Gregory Sanchez Jr. and Robert Martinez, who had pulled over to the side of the road to fix a flat tire. Sanchez died and Martinez was severely injured. Copening served nine months in the Clark County Detention Center for the crime. Now, the families of the two men have sued Copening, the two doctors who prescribed her medication, and seven pharmacies that dispensed the medication. The pharmacies are liable, the victims’ attorney argued, because they continued to fill prescriptions even after being notified of Copening’s drug abuse. Nevada was among the first states to seek to reduce drug abuse by tracking every prescription filled in the state. Nevada tracks the date the prescription is filled, the medication type and quantity, and the names of the patient, prescribing doctor, and pharmacy. About a year before the accident, in June 2003, the Prescription Controlled Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force warned the doctors and pharmacies that had supplied Copening that she might be a drug abuser. Its letter to the pharmacists did not tell them what to do, but urged them to “use their professional expertise to assist patients who may be abusing controlled substances.” Phil Aurbach, attorney for the victims’ families, argued that Wal-Mart and the six other pharmacies “ignored the letter.” He also said that some pharmacies threw the notice away and that none made a note of Ms. Copening’s abuse in pharmacy drug records. The pharmacies just continued to fill her prescriptions, he said. District Court Judge Douglas Herndon dismissed the pharmacies from the lawsuit, saying that Nevada’s law is unclear about what action pharmacies should have taken after being notified about a suspected drug abuser. He addressed the difference between a legal duty, which he said is not present under Nevada law, and an ethical responsibility to protect the public. Herndon said he hoped pharmacies would see the potential for abuse and say, “Hey, we’re not filling this anymore.” But that does not translate to a legal duty to cut off Copening’s access to medication, he said. The attorneys for the defendants argued that since Nevada bartenders are not liable for customers who drive drunk, the same rule should be true for pharmacists who provide pills to suspected drug addicts. Aurbach argued that the same rules should not apply to both professions. Aurbach said the case is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, claiming that pharmacies have a duty to take action where there is “drug-seeking behavior.” If the State’s Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it will mean that any pharmacist aware that a customer is a prescription drug abuser must call the doctor or stand on the legal right to refuse to fill the prescription. No matter the outcome, the case will proceed against Copening and Drs. Richard Groom and Doyle Steele, whose licenses have been revoked by the Nevada State Medical Examiners Board.]]> http://cphtlink.com/2009/03/10/nevada-supreme-court-considers-pharmacy-liability-issue/feed/ 0