Being sued

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diplomat

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I work at CVS. For example. Say I gave someone Amoxicillin when the prescription said Azithromycin and the patient claimed to have an adverse reaction from the medication. Would the patient bring a lawsuit against CVS and the pharmacist, CVS, or the pharmacist only?? How much liability does CVS have when a pharmacist makes a mistake?? Another question I have is there was recently in incident at one of my stores where a customer believed the pharmacist was rude to her. We received a letter from a lawyer stating they were seeking litigation against the pharmacist for embarrassing the customer and being rude. What could this customer possibly do to the pharmacist for "being rude".????
 
good thing about working for corporate is that you will be fully protected
we have many lawyers on our legal department that deal with this everyday

one of my pharmacist in my district filled methotrexate as 6 tabs per day instead
of per week, pt. ended up in the hospital...cvs will payout for all hospital fees
and a compensation package

the pharmacist will get a slap on the wrist
 
diplomat said:
I work at CVS. For example. Say I gave someone Amoxicillin when the prescription said Azithromycin and the patient claimed to have an adverse reaction from the medication. Would the patient bring a lawsuit against CVS and the pharmacist, CVS, or the pharmacist only?? How much liability does CVS have when a pharmacist makes a mistake?? Another question I have is there was recently in incident at one of my stores where a customer believed the pharmacist was rude to her. We received a letter from a lawyer stating they were seeking litigation against the pharmacist for embarrassing the customer and being rude. What could this customer possibly do to the pharmacist for "being rude".????
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I don't know what kind of lawsuit that is, but it seems very frivolous. It definitely is NOT a malpractice suit.
 
The rude lawsuit is frivolous. It will go nowhere. As far as the misfill goes CVS will probably just cover the Dr's visit and the medication. In the unlikely event it goes to court they would have to prove that the misfill caused them physical harm and what degree of harm. It wouldn't be worth their time or money.
 
If you could sue people for being rude, I'd be a millionaire after one shift dealing with the uppity-ass population of Montgomery County, Pa.
 
nnguyenc said:
good thing about working for corporate is that you will be fully protected
we have many lawyers on our legal department that deal with this everyday

one of my pharmacist in my district filled methotrexate as 6 tabs per day instead
of per week, pt. ended up in the hospital...cvs will payout for all hospital fees
and a compensation package

the pharmacist will get a slap on the wrist
Click to expand...

It depends. Corporate lawyer is there to protect the corporate. And they will throw anyone under the bus to protect the corporate. Employees can get hung out to dry just as quck.
 
Its Z said:
It depends. Corporate lawyer is there to protect the corporate. And they will throw anyone under the bus to protect the corporate. Employees can get hung out to dry just as quck.
Click to expand...

This. Everyone should have their own malpractice coverage. Never assume that your employer and their attorneys will behave in YOUR best interest. That's not their job.
 
They can't prove this to be a malpractice lawsuit. There has to be a breach of contract between provider and patient and, in addition, you need to have caused direct physical harm. By being rude and the patient was not able to fill a script, that's not your fault. They can go to another walgreens or deal with the rudeness and get the script filled. No one has an adverse reaction just because of not filling a prescription in a timely manner (within less than 1 day), if they are that unstable, they should be in the ER and not as an outpatient.

If you were rude and filled the prescription incorrectly and they had an ADR, then that's different.
 
Normally the corporation's policies and procedures mandates that all employees obey/observe all state/federal rules/law.. if you have a mis-fill.. you have broken your practice act and thus broke the company's P&P.. and thus the corporation is without liability for your actions. If you don't know the P&P of the company that you work for... you are playing a game without knowing the rules...
 
Pharmaciststeve said:
Normally the corporation's policies and procedures mandates that all employees obey/observe all state/federal rules/law.. if you have a mis-fill.. you have broken your practice act and thus broke the company's P&P.. and thus the corporation is without liability for your actions. If you don't know the P&P of the company that you work for... you are playing a game without knowing the rules...
Click to expand...

LO****ingL tell that to the jury buddy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_liability
 
Pharmaciststeve you sound like a CVS district manager. The chain this individual works for shares some of the responsibility. They likely contributed to the unsafe conditions whereby this misfill occurred. A case could easily be made given 14 hour shifts with no breaks, inadequate staffing....etc. It becomes an issue when x amount of misfills are made in x amount of time.
 
Pharmaciststeve said:
Normally the corporation's policies and procedures mandates that all employees obey/observe all state/federal rules/law.. if you have a mis-fill.. you have broken your practice act and thus broke the company's P&P.. and thus the corporation is without liability for your actions. If you don't know the P&P of the company that you work for... you are playing a game without knowing the rules...
Click to expand...

You are a 24 carrot solid gold nut job. Let's think this through. Who does the plaintiff's lawyer want to sue, a 100 billion dollar corporation rolling in cash or a pharmacist making 140K per year with a mortgage, student loans and minimal net worth? That's real simple, they want to sue the corporation.

Now your logic that any error which by definition is misbranding and therefore a violation of the State Pharmacy act passes all liability from the employer to the employee is how shall we say, really really wrong.

The employer is responsible for hiring you training you and placing you in an environment conducive to the practice of pharmacy. They are also responsible for what you do as their representative. So no, you are wrong the corporation is legally responsible and since they have the big bucks, that's where the plaintiff's lawyer is going to after it.
 
Pharmaciststeve said:
Normally the corporation's policies and procedures mandates that all employees obey/observe all state/federal rules/law.. if you have a mis-fill.. you have broken your practice act and thus broke the company's P&P.. and thus the corporation is without liability for your actions. If you don't know the P&P of the company that you work for... you are playing a game without knowing the rules...
Click to expand...
The most random and out of touch post ever.
 
In most cases, the employer is going to be the target of the lawsuit, and will use their lawyers to settle out of court. Even when the employee is individually named, the employer's liability will cover them in most cases. The exception would be if there were extenuating circumstances beyond a simple misfill (ie the employees failed a drug test right after the incident or if there was evidence the employees purposefully misfilled the RX.)

Even so, individual liability policies are cheap enough, there is no reason not to have one for that added level of protection (although I don't think they will cover either, if the employee is drugged on the job or doing something willfully wrong....they will cover for off-the-cuff advice you give when you aren't at work, in the event that someone sues over it.)
 
BidingMyTime said:
In most cases, the employer is going to be the target of the lawsuit, and will use their lawyers to settle out of court. Even when the employee is individually named, the employer's liability will cover them in most cases. The exception would be if there were extenuating circumstances beyond a simple misfill (ie the employees failed a drug test right after the incident or if there was evidence the employees purposefully misfilled the RX.)

Even so, individual liability policies are cheap enough, there is no reason not to have one for that added level of protection (although I don't think they will cover either, if the employee is drugged on the job or doing something willfully wrong....they will cover for off-the-cuff advice you give when you aren't at work, in the event that someone sues over it.)
Click to expand...

Even if the lawsuit is versus you, the corporation will pay for your settlement because they can easily turn into the target of a multi million dollar settlement. They rather nip it in the butt to begin with.
 
How does anyone mistaken amoxicillin and azithromycin? The dosing schemes are different... tsk tsk tsk
 
^
Work back to back 14 hour shifts and verify 500+ Rxs and you will see how.
 
What Stallion said, and add in multiple distractions....customers asking questions, technicians asking questions, phones ringing off the hook. It's not happening because someone doesn't know the difference between amox & azith, it happens because the pharmacist is interrupted so many times that (s)he ends up checking off on something which hadn't yet been checked, or because the technician is asking them to check the zithromax prescription for the guy at the register, at the same time the pharmacist is looking at the amoxicillin prescription.
 
diplomat said:
I work at CVS. For example. Say I gave someone Amoxicillin when the prescription said Azithromycin and the patient claimed to have an adverse reaction from the medication. Would the patient bring a lawsuit against CVS and the pharmacist, CVS, or the pharmacist only?? How much liability does CVS have when a pharmacist makes a mistake?? Another question I have is there was recently in incident at one of my stores where a customer believed the pharmacist was rude to her. We received a letter from a lawyer stating they were seeking litigation against the pharmacist for embarrassing the customer and being rude. What could this customer possibly do to the pharmacist for "being rude".????
Click to expand...

Hey Diplomat, I heard your mom is "rude"
 
Quick question---if a mistake happened while you are at CVS but the pharmacist later left for another job- and then a lawsuit is filed- are you still protected under CVS law and money? Thank you.
 
Malpractice insurance is not expensive. I've paid $144 a year for a $1 million/$3 million policy for almost 20 years, and your employer may reimburse you. It doesn't hurt to ask.
 
rph3664 said:
Malpractice insurance is not expensive. I've paid $144 a year for a $1 million/$3 million policy for almost 20 years, and your employer may reimburse you. It doesn't hurt to ask.
Click to expand...

Do you know why it's so cheap? It's because it only pays if you exhaust your employers liability coverage. You are buying a secondary policy. Now if you work for one of the majors, what could you that was not criminal (not covered by your insurance anyway) that would bankrupt a Fortune 500 company, the answer is nothing.

You do get representation if you have to appear before the board and they will help with your defense in a malpractice suit, but they will NEVER pay a claim, ever.....
 
Plus, pharmacists are rarely sued. I can't think of any I know personally who have. Many years ago, I did work at a hospital whose outpatient department was threatened with a lawsuit because someone placed a label on a box which contained a bottle of something, and didn't open the unsealed box. The bottle had someone else's label on it, a med never picked up and returned to the shelf. They took it to a lawyer, who told them they didn't have a case.

I do know of someone who successfully sued a pharmacy. He was on Rythmol 150mg (propafenone) and they accidentally gave him 225mg, which put him in the hospital. All he wanted was his bill paid and wages reimbursed (he's self-employed and has a high-deductible policy) and that's what they did.
 
rph3664 said:
Plus, pharmacists are rarely sued. I can't think of any I know personally who have. Many years ago, I did work at a hospital whose outpatient department was threatened with a lawsuit because someone placed a label on a box which contained a bottle of something, and didn't open the unsealed box. The bottle had someone else's label on it, a med never picked up and returned to the shelf. They took it to a lawyer, who told them they didn't have a case.

I do know of someone who successfully sued a pharmacy. He was on Rythmol 150mg (propafenone) and they accidentally gave him 225mg, which put him in the hospital. All he wanted was his bill paid and wages reimbursed (he's self-employed and has a high-deductible policy) and that's what they did.
Click to expand...

The pharmacy and pharmacist I used to work for got the chit sued out of them/him. They got 3.5 million from the pharmacist alone.
 
cycloketocaine said:
It involved compounding.....a dental cocktail. The tech that did it used methadone instead of meperidine and killed an 8 year old.
Click to expand...

Didn't that story get on the national news in some way? It sounds very familiar. 🙁
 
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