legal advice

[Rxgator86]

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I would appreciate your insight on a case that I have been included in as a witness/victim. This past May I had a patient come in with a fraudulent prescription, per Florida law I contacted local law enforcement. The prescription was a blatant photocopy for a benzodiazepine that the patient had previously filled at the pharmacy. The patient was noticably intoxicated and was with a young man wearing a backpack. The patient left and law enforcement arrived. The officer advised me to call her when the patient returned so that they could arrest her. When she returned I called law enforcement, the officer instructed me to fill the Rx and the patient would be arrested after purchasing said Rx so they could arrest her for the associated felony. After following up with my colleagues at another local pharmacy they told me this was common practice. I filled the Rx as instructed even though technically it was 1) fraudulent, and 2) expired under police instruction. My question is, can any legal backlash come towards me since I filled the Rx even though it was expired such as a lawsuit or marks against my professional license? I really appreciate any insight you can give me into this matter.

 

[Doctor M]

I would appreciate your insight on a case that I have been included in as a witness/victim. This past May I had a patient come in with a fraudulent prescription, per Florida law I contacted local law enforcement. The prescription was a blatant photocopy for a benzodiazepine that the patient had previously filled at the pharmacy. The patient was noticably intoxicated and was with a young man wearing a backpack. The patient left and law enforcement arrived. The officer advised me to call her when the patient returned so that they could arrest her. When she returned I called law enforcement, the officer instructed me to fill the Rx and the patient would be arrested after purchasing said Rx so they could arrest her for the associated felony. After following up with my colleagues at another local pharmacy they told me this was common practice. I filled the Rx as instructed even though technically it was 1) fraudulent, and 2) expired under police instruction. My question is, can any legal backlash come towards me since I filled the Rx even though it was expired such as a lawsuit or marks against my professional license? I really appreciate any insight you can give me into this matter.

No, you will be fine

 

[moolman]

I know in this day and age, you hear about so many ******ed things happen to people because of the lack of common sense. Like the good Samaritan that gets sued for chest bruising for performing CPR on someone who was having a MI. In this case your chances are slim to none but with anything in life, no good deed goes unpunished, so when you get the letter in the mail stating your license is suspended, come back here and post so we can all laugh at you.

 

[Pojman]

State that you were following the instruction of police authority.

If the police throw you under the bus, then state that you felt intimidated by the officer. You could go further by saying that the officer intimidated you into participating in entrapment of the customer.

If the police officer is honest and upfront, then the backlash (if any) would be experienced by the officer assigned to the case. Bottom line is, you were simply following the instruction of your local police authority.

Next time this happens, maybe you should mention your concerns to the police officer before the situation actually goes down. That way the ball is in his/her court before the act takes place.

Overall though, I would drop the paranoia and just be happy that you helped prevent prescription fraud.

 

[BenJammin]

State that you were following the instruction of police authority.

If the police throw you under the bus, then state that you felt intimidated by the officer. You could go further by saying that the officer intimidated you into participating in entrapment of the customer.

If the police officer is honest and upfront, then the backlash (if any) would be experienced by the officer assigned to the case. Bottom line is, you were simply following the instruction of your local police authority.

Next time this happens, maybe you should mention your concerns to the police officer before the situation actually goes down. That way the ball is in his/her court before the act takes place.

Overall though, I would drop the paranoia and just be happy that you helped prevent prescription fraud.

You're using the wrong language here. The officer was not participating in entrapment. Entrapment, which is not what cops are supposed to do, involves convincing someone through material means or threats to commit a crime that they would not normally do. It is entrapment to offer someone $10,000 to get a forged script filled. Filling a script "as is" isn't entrapment because a forged script by itself is already a crime.

I'm not an attorney but that's how I understand the law.

 

[Pojman]

You're using the wrong language here. The officer was not participating in entrapment. Entrapment, which is not what cops are supposed to do, involves convincing someone through material means or threats to commit a crime that they would not normally do. It is entrapment to offer someone $10,000 to get a forged script filled. Filling a script "as is" isn't entrapment because a forged script by itself is already a crime.

I'm not an attorney but that's how I understand the law.

Well whatever.. When an officer tells you to do something, we are programmed to do it. This relationship between authority/citizen could have been abused.

 

[BenJammin]

Well whatever.. When an officer tells you to do something, we are programmed to do it. This relationship between authority/citizen could have been abused.

As a witness to a felony, you have a legal obligation to report it to the police.

 

[Pojman]

As a witness to a felony, you have a legal obligation to report it to the police.

Exactly, I believe that the Op's concern was that he/she reported it to the police, and the police officer told him/her to do something that was not in accordance to the policies which are normally followed.

Now the Op is concerned that there could be a backlash due to the fact that he/she did something that he/she knew was against the rules in order to make sure that the crime was executed. This way the police had a slam dunk case against the felon.

What I am saying is that the op should make it clear that he/she was just following the direction of the local authorities, and that is why the breach in policy was made.

 

[moolman]

I would also like to add for anything young students here. If this situation ever happens to you, I would just refuse the script. In this day and age of gun violence, you are on crack to get someone arrested that knows where you work 40 hours out of the week. Not all obviously but what if this dude gets so mad at you for helping the cops bust him that he comes back to the pharmacy to get you. He can't go after the cop, the cop isn't at the same place everyday and has a gun. What do you have, maybe you can spray some roach spray in his eyes but then again you'd get fired for using company property without paying for it.

 

[Momus]

Verify it with MD/other pharmacy or whatever then marked "copy only/tampered per MD" and tell them it's a felony. If they want to keep arguing, I say "we can have the police here to sort it through." They just walk away most of the time.

Not worth my time to try to arrest the guy and get a letter from a court to be a witness to waste my time there...

 

[ancienbon]

I would also like to add for anything young students here. If this situation ever happens to you, I would just refuse the script. In this day and age of gun violence, you are on crack to get someone arrested that knows where you work 40 hours out of the week. Not all obviously but what if this dude gets so mad at you for helping the cops bust him that he comes back to the pharmacy to get you. He can't go after the cop, the cop isn't at the same place everyday and has a gun. What do you have, maybe you can spray some roach spray in his eyes but then again you'd get fired for using company property without paying for it.

So true. I cant agree with you more. I would just refuse the script .

 

[Unchained]

You did the right thing by having them arrested. I've had more than 150 people arrested and haven't been threatened and only had to go to court once. The evidence is so overwhelming in these cases they usually plead guilty and you don't have to go to court. These are small fish at the bottom of the food chain and are unlikely to retaliate. It took a good amount of courage to do what you did. Bravo.👍

 

[pezdispenser]

I would also like to add for anything young students here. If this situation ever happens to you, I would just refuse the script. In this day and age of gun violence, you are on crack to get someone arrested that knows where you work 40 hours out of the week. Not all obviously but what if this dude gets so mad at you for helping the cops bust him that he comes back to the pharmacy to get you. He can't go after the cop, the cop isn't at the same place everyday and has a gun. What do you have, maybe you can spray some roach spray in his eyes but then again you'd get fired for using company property without paying for it.

Yep. Avoid confrontation. Refuse to fill and just give it back. Do NOT write copy/tampered/whatever on the script. A friend of mine confronted a patient and he jumped the counter to snatch the script back. She was quite distraught from that ordeal but at least she learned her lesson...

 

[g40631]

I agree. I simply refuse to fill, stating that I was unable to verify the prescription. I then email my entire company division to report the fake script and flag the profile with notes galore to prevent them from filling at my company. What about contacting other local pharmacies to warn them? Or would this be considered a HIPAA violation (even if the script is fake?).

I've contacted the police once. I had to wait an hour and a half after my shift ended for a cop to come take a disposition from me. Then they said they weren't pressing charges as they did not have enough evidence. Total waste of time. On top of that, don't want to be blown away by someone, so I just let it be.

 

[g40631]

Re-post

 

[crossurfingers]

Our company has sent out emails clarifying that it is illegal to fill any prescriptions that are fraudulent, even at the request of authorities. Now there's no way for the fakers to get caught because they can't get arrested if we don't fill the prescription. It's so frustrating just seeing these people not even at least a little bit scared at being caught for forging prescriptions.

 

[moolman]

You did the right thing by having them arrested. I've had more than 150 people arrested and haven't been threatened and only had to go to court once. The evidence is so overwhelming in these cases they usually plead guilty and you don't have to go to court. These are small fish at the bottom of the food chain and are unlikely to retaliate. It took a good amount of courage to do what you did. Bravo.👍

Your right cause gun violence happens all the time, so if it didn't happen to you in 150 times, it should never happen.... Heck no, it's that one dude like colorado that does that to you and you don't know who that one dude is, so yeah, you got away with it 150 times... Good luck with that.

 

[Unchained]

Your right cause gun violence happens all the time, so if it didn't happen to you in 150 times, it should never happen.... Heck no, it's that one dude like colorado that does that to you and you don't know who that one dude is, so yeah, you got away with it 150 times... Good luck with that.

You take a chance everyday from the minute you put your feet on the ground. You've got to take a stand for something in life. I've never lived my life worried about what another idiot might do because there are just so many of them. I've never benefitted from taking the cowardly way out. If the tools are there to have these people arrested you should do it.

 

[moolman]

You take a chance everyday from the minute you put your feet on the ground. You've got to take a stand for something in life. I've never lived my life worried about what another idiot might do because there are just so many of them. I've never benefitted from taking the cowardly way out. If the tools are there to have these people arrested you should do it.

Ok, I can respect your point of view. I've called the cops too on someone, a lot of it depends on the situation. But I think there is a difference between worrying about something happening while crossing the road or driving versus pissing off a vicodin addict that knows where you work and some of them may be smart enough to look up your address on the BOP site, like in CA where they post it, hence I gladly pay for a PO Box every year.

 

[kvl1027]

I had a similar situation the other day.

We had a patient calling in Rx's for herself for Stadol NS. We had filled the rx's a few times and the patient was very well spoken and had to have some previous pharmacy or medical office experience. She would call the rx's in with an accent, that was very genuine, from a local doc who we know fairly well. We might have never known if one of my techs didn't take it upon herself to send a refill request to the MD's office. The office called and said she was not a patient of theirs and apparently she had been doing this all over the tri-county area. She was very likeable, she even came back to pay for her RX when her check bounced.

Well, when I found out she was faking scripts I called a narcotics detective that we were working with on another case and they set up a little "sting". We had an unmarked van full of cops in our lot and when she came in we were supposed to sell her the script and they would get her outside. When the patient showed up, she walked in and I think she got a bad feeling. She claimed she did not have the money and needed to leave and turned right around. As soon as she got outside she was put in cuffs and so was the driver, who apparently had some warrants out for similar offenses. She had warrants out in several counties, so even though they could not get her for buying "that" script, she was still done for.

 

[Hope1974]

I would also like to add for anything young students here. If this situation ever happens to you, I would just refuse the script. In this day and age of gun violence, you are on crack to get someone arrested that knows where you work 40 hours out of the week. Not all obviously but what if this dude gets so mad at you for helping the cops bust him that he comes back to the pharmacy to get you. He can't go after the cop, the cop isn't at the same place everyday and has a gun. What do you have, maybe you can spray some roach spray in his eyes but then again you'd get fired for using company property without paying for it.

So true. I cant agree with you more. I would just refuse the script .

No, you will be fine

I totally agree. I've seen this type a thing b4 as an intern. I think it's so stupid. Tell him u don't have or give some excuse- but don't call the police. If they get arrested and get angry- they know where u work. All that for a freakn benzo- even if it were a narcotic, it's hardly worth ur life or peace a mind.

 

[Unchained]

I've been practicing in pharmacy for 20 years and have never heard of a pharmacist being retaliated against for having someone arrested. Most people have an irrational fear of this. It's like your chances of being bit by a shark seem to go up astronomically after watching the movie Jaws. It's unlikely someone will come gunning for you over what amounts to a little more than a slap on the wrist. The real criminals don't usually pass fakes. They pay others 100 bucks per script to pass them. However common sense should be used and if you run into one of those characters tell them you don't have it. You still have to pick and choose your battles.

 

[BidingMyTime]

It is illegal to fill a prescription known to be fradulent. Regardless of what the police asked you to do, you aren't on their payroll as an undercover police officer, so you would not be protected from breaking the law in this regard. It is also illegal to mislabel a prescription (ie putting an OTC med or something in a bottle labeled as a prescription to fool the person.) Police can and do arrest people who just show up and ask to pick up a fake prescription--I understand its harder to prosecute these cases, because they have to prove the person know the prescription was fake. I do think the police should be called when you have verified with the doctor that a prescription is fraudulent. By law, fraudulent prescription MUST be reported to the DEA.

I don't know if its common for anything to be done in a situation like that. I would recommend keeping quiet (ie I would not talk about this incident to the police or anyone unless a lawyer has advised your otherwise), and let your malpractice insurer handle any problems that arise from your action.

 

[BidingMyTime]

I agree. I simply refuse to fill, stating that I was unable to verify the prescription. I then email my entire company division to report the fake script and flag the profile with notes galore to prevent them from filling at my company. What about contacting other local pharmacies to warn them? Or would this be considered a HIPAA violation (even if the script is fake?).

Fake scripts are not considered protected information under HIPAA (since they are fake, there is no genuine medical knowledge being passed.)

 

[zelman]

If someone is creating fraudulent prescriptions it is in the interest of the pharmacy world to get them to stop. While possession of a fraudulent prescription is illegal, the punitive outcomes are significantly greater for possession of a fraudulently obtained controlled substance. I say, fill the RX for cash and get them arrested. The Board of Pharmacy's priorities are the interest of the pharmacy world and patients with legitimate prescriptions' interests. They will not take action against you for a drug dealer or addict who complains that you filled their fake prescription after ensuring that the medication would go directly to a police evidence locker. I don't know if a civil suit could be won, but I doubt it. That would be like a bank robber suing a bank for an exploding dye pack injury. The suits do exist, but are typically thrown out by reasonable judges.