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thanks all for the advice!
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RPH Prosecution
- Thread starter rxglasshalffull
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you made a mistake - likely a very minor one in the whole scheme of things - we have all probably made bigger mistakes. The spotting could be legit - (different strength of estrogen) - I have a hard time thinking the yeast infection is due to the wrong sub - but I am far from an expert on women's health.
Call you liability insurance, talk to your DM, I would be shocked if this went far at all.
A MD/ patient can NOT prosecute you - only the police, and I am guessing that have better things to do. They can file a complaint with the board, and if board has half a brain, assuming you have no other issues from the past, they may write you a letter of reprimand, maybe tell you you have to do some error prevention CE's, and it will then be done.
They could file a civil suit, but I would be suprised if they went through the effort to do that - plus any damages would be minimal.
You did not prescribe - and it sounds like the MD is a control freak.
Just take a breath and relax - this is why you have liability insurance that provides legal support
Call you liability insurance, talk to your DM, I would be shocked if this went far at all.
A MD/ patient can NOT prosecute you - only the police, and I am guessing that have better things to do. They can file a complaint with the board, and if board has half a brain, assuming you have no other issues from the past, they may write you a letter of reprimand, maybe tell you you have to do some error prevention CE's, and it will then be done.
They could file a civil suit, but I would be suprised if they went through the effort to do that - plus any damages would be minimal.
You did not prescribe - and it sounds like the MD is a control freak.
Just take a breath and relax - this is why you have liability insurance that provides legal support
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Mistakes happen. I am sure your employees know this and I am sure the BOP knows it too. It sounds like the pateint only had a minor side effects, perhaps from a higher dose of estrogen? Most likely your employer would settle it. Take this as a learning experience.
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The nice thing about giving the wrong birth control is that they all prevent pregnancy. This is likely to be a major pain, but I don't expect any major issues for you in the long run. If you've got liability insurance, get in touch with them and let them deal with it.
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I guess it depends on your interpretation of prescribe. There's a few scenarios here:
1. pharmacist dispensed a product that they thought in their professional goodfaith was correct. This would be a dispensing error, yes still open to civil suit but malpractice insurance would probably pick that up.
2. Pharmacist recognized they were out of stock of prescribed medication and could not fill it. Pharmacist took additional actions to find the appropriate product including contacting a competitor. Pharmacist knowingly changed the prescribed agent to one that is not recognized by the state as interchangeable, without prescriber authorization, therefore creating a new/altered prescription (something which requires prescriptive authority). Pharmacist then knowingly dispensed prescription that was not issued by an authorized prescriber or their agent.
While we do carry liability in dispensing the wrong agent, intent and goodwill of your actions can actually mean a lot. If you have declared or inferred that you knew you did not have the medication and admitted to changing the agent to something not prescribed (and then even worse that agent may have resulted in harm to the public), I'd lawyer up. Check any liability policy that you have, typically (and understandably) company nor personal malpractice won't cover something with intent that deviates from regulations or company policy. As a licensed professional you are expected to practice within the scope permitted to you by law. We all practice in the grey area at times, but IMHO this is a very dark grey.
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But timing of dose becomes an issue when using progestin only pills vs combo.
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well, theyre taking this to court. i just need to be prepared i guess. if i do get my license taken away, i am going to collect state unemployment for 18 months, during which ill try having a baby with my hubby and see where to go from there.
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You are not going to lose your license over this. There have been worse things done.
Incident reports happen more often than you think. You just got a bad one in regards to MD and patient wanting to go farther than it really should be.
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Doubt you'll get your license taken away, might be a probation or something. I'd make sure you and your employer are ok. If the MD is responsible for a large part of your business they may take action to satisfy the md and the related business he brings. Given you're a grocer, hopefully you'll be fine.
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thanks guys, for your professional/sdn advice, my non-pharmacy friends and family do not understand this and this event has really made me very worried, sad, and upset.
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Just remember to keep your mouth shut if they try to contact you and refer all questions to your attorney, to corporate, or someone else. And smile.
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Who is taking this to court? State prosecutors in a criminal trial or is this a civil trial?
I don't think there are any grounds for a criminal trial here-- it would probably get thrown out immediately.
Although, there was that famous case from Ohio a few years ago where the pharmacist was actually criminally prosecuted and jailed for manslaughter. I don't know how our pharmacist societies let that one slip through. We don't see doctors prosecuted for abuse when the operate on the wrong side of a patient's brain. The Ohio case was a very extreme case from what I remember.
Keep a positive attitude, and remember that you must have run into one of the biggest jerk MDs ever. I've never tried to have these guys prosecuted for the horrendous errors they make.
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The Ohio case involved a dead child and an egregiously made chemo (diluted with 23.4% saline instead of normal saline).
I mean obviously situation sucks for you. But honestly you won't be "prosecuted". Your grocer may settle for like $5000. You just ran into a patient/family that wants to make you pay. In another pharmacy in another part of the country the patient was happy with a true I'm sorry, a copay refunded, and a $50 gift card.
I mean obviously situation sucks for you. But honestly you won't be "prosecuted". Your grocer may settle for like $5000. You just ran into a patient/family that wants to make you pay. In another pharmacy in another part of the country the patient was happy with a true I'm sorry, a copay refunded, and a $50 gift card.
Be very careful posting too many details here. Let your lawyer handle this. This can drag on for a while and I know you want some reassurances from other pharmacists but this is not completely anonymous. We all have or will deal with something similar at some point in our career.
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I agree with what you said, I was under the impression that the OP thought they were legit generics, not that he said "Oh well, this is close enough"
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WHO is taking this to court and where? Makes no sense.
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Nobody had ever been criminally tried for medical malpractice before the Ohio case. Patients are killed all the time by medical errors and people are not criminally prosecuted. The Ohio case was an extreme example, but that pharmacist probably should not have been criminally prosecuted. Even worse, our national pharmacists organizations did nothing to help this pharmacist.
My only point is that given the wrong birth control is small potatoes compared to other stuff out there. This pharmacist just ran into a major jerk doctor. It happens, but I would imagine corporate will settle out of court and all will be well.
