Some Pharmacy Law Questions

[lilamarcha]

A dispensing error is made. The wrong drug was dispensed. The pharmacy uses a robotic system to be efficient and keep close control of its inventory. The pharmacist who is being sued claims that the robot dispensed the wrong medication and it is the fault of the software vendor who installed the machine. How would a judge make the distinction of how to rule on this type of case?

How would be solve this problem?

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[MountainPharmD]

A dispensing error is made. The wrong drug was dispensed. The pharmacy uses a robotic system to be efficient and keep close control of its inventory. The pharmacist who is being sued claims that the robot dispensed the wrong medication and it is the fault of the software vendor who installed the machine. How would a judge make the distinction of how to rule on this type of case?

How would be solve this problem?

Robots are not responsible for mistakes. It does not matter if a technician filled the medication or a robot did it is still a pharmacists responsibility to do the final verification. Therefore, it is the pharmacists responsibility to ensure the correct medication was dispensed and the pharmacist who is liable when it is not.

 

[Moxxie]

Robots are not responsible for mistakes. It does not matter if a technician filled the medication or a robot did it is still a pharmacists responsibility to do the final verification. Therefore, it is the pharmacists responsibility to ensure the correct medication was dispensed and the pharmacist who is liable when it is not.

Exactly. Who (or what) actually fills the prescription bottle does not matter. The pharmacist still has to check to be sure that the correct medication is getting to the correct patient at the correct dose, etc. Sounds like a busy (or lazy) pharmacist wasn't doing all of the right steps - I wonder how often this happens but the rph isn't sued.

 

[type b pharmD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_clear_chance

Not really a law per se but maybe it would inform this case.

Clearly the pharmacist had both the opportunity and the skills to discover the mistake, and catching the mistake is also clearly within his job duties and reasonable expectations to protect the public from harm.

 

[Carboxide]

What if it was a central fill station like POWER where the pharmacists aren't even allowed to open the packages before they send it out?

 

[MountainPharmD]

What if it was a central fill station like POWER where the pharmacists aren't even allowed to open the packages before they send it out?

There is still a pharmacist of record who is responsible for the final verification of the prescription. Where the prescription was filled and where the prescription actually ended up in the patients hands has no bearing. There is always a pharmacist, on every prescription who preformed the final verification. It is that pharmacist who is responsible for ensuring the correct medication, directions dose ect. where dispensed.

 

[brittnic2008]

A dispensing error is made. The wrong drug was dispensed. The pharmacy uses a robotic system to be efficient and keep close control of its inventory. The pharmacist who is being sued claims that the robot dispensed the wrong medication and it is the fault of the software vendor who installed the machine. How would a judge make the distinction of how to rule on this type of case?

How would be solve this problem?

Not a viable excuse. The pharmacist would not win this case, no way in hell. In most institutions, the tech fills the robot, usually by a barcode system. These systems have lots of checks and balances, but mistakes can still be made, especially if the technician is not being very responsible.

The judge would have to interview other pharmacists and the IT team at the company that makes the software/hardware.

Even if a robot fills a prescription, the pharmacist still has to check it by law. Most of the time in these systems, the tech checks the prescription first and then the pharmacist makes the final check. In the case of outpatient meds, the pharmacist is the last checkpoint before the patient receives the medication, so there is really no room for error. In the case of inpatient meds, the nurse is the final checkpoint, but the pharmacist would still be ultimately responsible.

 

[Farmercyst]

Perhaps it was intended that you do your own homework.