Legal Question

[Praziquantel86]

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Something that just recently popped up at my store, and I'm wondering what you all think our responsibility is in this situation.

We have a mother and daughter pair at our pharmacy who are both regular customers. The daughter is about 30, and the relationship between the two is rocky at best.

The mother calls us one day, and says that the daughter told her that she'd been getting prescriptions filled under her name (Lortab and Valium), which she is then giving back to the physician who prescribed them. She also tells us that she has been getting other controls filled at other pharmacies (not in the same chain) and doing the same thing. The mother then tries to get some information on what prescriptions her daughter is currently getting filled, which we refuse to give on PHI grounds.

If this is actually true, what is our responsibility? My thoughts were to call someone in corporate and ask what they would have us do, followed by a call to the Board of Pharmacy to see what our responsibilities are. Granted, the mother may just be trying to get back at her daughter for something, but if we have reasonable suspicion that the prescriptions are being diverted, aren't we responsible to report it to someone?

Very sticky situation to me.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Do nothing unless you know for a fact a law has been broken. He said she said BS will get you into trouble. I would verify all controls and ask for ID when she is picking them up. If the daughter is fraudulently picking up for the mother then I would tell the daughter only her mother can pick up her scripts.

If you actually discover someone is breaking the law it is a police matter.

 

[Vitamin K]

I agree. Do nothing for now. Put "must see ID - Jane Doe only" on the mom's profile and tell her to call the state medical board if she suspects this is going on. It's not really your place.

 

[BustyPharmD]

the mom is trying to bust the daughter. I wouldn't get into it. You have no proof so nothing wrong has happend....

The police don't arrest people without evidence........I guess in some situations lol...

but I wouldn't do anything unless you know a law has been broken. If the other drugs are fakes under your own store and you can look them up and call the MD .... there's not much you can do except get popcorn and enjoy the drama =)

 

[soyroger]

I wouldn't take orders from the mom, but I'd want to do something about it. See if your state has a program similar to CURES, run by the CA dept of justice. It allows a pharmacist to request a history of controlled meds (II - IV) prescribed to a patient regardless of which pharmacies they go to.

 

[Old Timer]

I hate to poop on your parade. The mom has every right to demand and you have no right to refuse to disclose all prescriptions filled under profile. Once you have documented these rxs are fraudulent, you need to reverse them as they are not legal.

 

[J ROD]

Personally, I would not fill any of their meds anymore and tell them to find another pharmacy.

Piss on what corporate says but then again this is why I dont work retail, haha!!

 

[Old Timer]

Personally, I would not fill any of their meds anymore and tell them to find another pharmacy.

Piss on what corporate says but then again this is why I dont work retail, haha!!

Are you for real? This is truly a silly answer. Why would you refuse to fill prescriptions for the mother just because the daughter is committing fraud by filling prescriptions in her mother's name? Why wouldn't you check with corporate? You are their representative. They have lawyers that will advise you on how to handle this issue. I personally might consult my superior if I don't know how to handle a situation.

 

[Vitamin K]

I hate to poop on your parade. The mom has every right to demand and you have no right to refuse to disclose all prescriptions filled under profile. Once you have documented these rxs are fraudulent, you need to reverse them as they are not legal.

I took the original post to mean that the daughter was filling under the mother's name but that the mother wanted a list of rx's the daughter was getting under her OWN name, not just the ones under her mother's name.

So if you discover that a prescription is fraudulent after the fact, you reverse it and eat the cost? I never really thought about it that way since I either catch it before it's filled or never see it again. How far back are you obligated to do this? If a fax comes through saying X patient is filling fake Rx's from Y doctor, do you need to go back through all your files and verify every single prescription that you filled for X patient??

 

[Old Timer]

I took the original post to mean that the daughter was filling under the mother's name but that the mother wanted a list of rx's the daughter was getting under her OWN name, not just the ones under her mother's name.

So if you discover that a prescription is fraudulent after the fact, you reverse it and eat the cost? I never really thought about it that way since I either catch it before it's filled or never see it again. How far back are you obligated to do this? If a fax comes through saying X patient is filling fake Rx's from Y doctor, do you need to go back through all your files and verify every single prescription that you filled for X patient??

It's obvious you cannot disclose to the mother anything filled for any person other then herself or her minor children.

Yes, you are obligated to reverse all claims that you know are fraudulent. Not every rx ever written by that doctor. Depending on the age, you may not be able to reverse them at the store level.

 

[Praziquantel86]

I took the original post to mean that the daughter was filling under the mother's name but that the mother wanted a list of rx's the daughter was getting under her OWN name, not just the ones under her mother's name.

Nope, the daughter was filling prescriptions and then giving those prescriptions back to the physician who wrote them (or so the mother says).

We ended up just going up the chain of command to see what our obligation was, and we're still waiting for them to get back to us. We'll see!

Thanks for all the thoughts on this.

 

[J ROD]

Are you for real? This is truly a silly answer. Why would you refuse to fill prescriptions for the mother just because the daughter is committing fraud by filling prescriptions in her mother's name? Why wouldn't you check with corporate? You are their representative. They have lawyers that will advise you on how to handle this issue. I personally might consult my superior if I don't know how to handle a situation.

Too much work to call and think about it. Just get out because I get paid the same no matter whether I fill your crap or not.

Save the drama for ya momma!!

 

[Old Timer]

Too much work to call and think about it. Just get out because I get paid the same no matter whether I fill your crap or not.

Save the drama for ya momma!!

So why is it you want to be a pharmacist?

 

[J ROD]

So why is it you want to be a pharmacist?

I like drugs and money!! $$$

 

[Old Timer]

I like drugs and money!! $$$

Why am I not surprised...... And an outstanding representative of the profession you will be.

 

[J ROD]

Why am I not surprised...... And an outstanding representative of the profession you will be.

Thank you kindly!! 😀

 

[Old Timer]

Thank you kindly!! 😀

:troll:

 

[museabuse]

It's obvious you cannot disclose to the mother anything filled for any person other then herself or her minor children.

Yes, you are obligated to reverse all claims that you know are fraudulent. Not every rx ever written by that doctor. Depending on the age, you may not be able to reverse them at the store level.

So the moral of the story, if you fill an rx for oxycontin and you think it may not be legit then don't call the next day to find out because you may have just cost your company a couple grand.

Which is I don't fill any oxycontin 40,80 or oxycodone 15,30 rx for a new pt with out contacting dr or obtaining some sort of history. Fake rxs are a big problem here. People order rx pads off Internet with security features and write rx that look legit. They even put a phone number to a pay as you go cell phone where they either answer and confirm it or have message that says this is dr so and so office leave a MSG. There seems to be some sort of drug ring that knows what their doing, although occasionally they'll pay someone to drop off and pick up who have no clue and they get arrested.

 

[meister]

If you have reason to believe there is legitimate drug diversion going on then you could contact your local DEA field office.

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/offices_n_dirs/fielddiv/index.html

As a first step it seems logical to call around and see if the patient's story stands up. If you find profiles for her at other chains paying cash for controlled substances at the same time she is getting those prescriptions at your store, and they are being prescribed by the same physician, I would consider letting the DEA know. If they are not being prescribed by the same physician, I would call the physician on file at your store and inquire as to whether or not he/she is aware of the patient's medication history. A patient using multiple physicians and multiple pharmacies is a little bit more difficult, since the DEA likely wouldn't really care much about that. That is more of a local police problem, and the odds that they give a **** are pretty low. At that point I'd probably tell the patient to have her controlled meds filled elsewhere.

Dirty physicians are a plague.

 

[meister]

Or you could do what 90% of retail pharmacists would do and not care, and not call anyone, and fill whatever as long as it isn't a problem at your store.

 

[Praziquantel86]

Or you could do what 90% of retail pharmacists would do and not care, and not call anyone, and fill whatever as long as it isn't a problem at your store.

Our Dean/law professor manages to scare the living hell out of anyone who graduates from UB, so pharmacists around here tend err on the side of caring way too much.

We're just going to wait until corporate gets back to us to make any sort of decision on what to do. We just don't want to get in over our heads and have to worry about having violated some obscure company policy. CYA sort of thing.

 

[J ROD]

Or you could do what 90% of retail pharmacists would do and not care, and not call anyone, and fill whatever as long as it isn't a problem at your store.

Right on!!