GUARD THOSE PILLS. AS A PHARMACIST, YOUR LICENSE DEPENDS ON IT.

Among the many responsibilities and concerns you have as a pharmacist, reviewing the medical judgment of doctors is an important one among them.

As you are aware from reading this blog, California Business and Professions Code §4301, states that the Board of Pharmacy will take action against any pharmacist who is guilty of “unprofessional conduct”.

One of the ways a pharmacist can be guilty of “unprofessional conduct” is by allowing for the improper distribution of controlled substances.

California Business and Professions Code §4301(d) states that it shall be “unprofessional conduct” for a pharmacist to engage in “the clearly excessive furnishing of controlled substances in violation of subdivision (a) of Section 11153 of the Health and Safety Code”.

California Health and Safety Code §11153(a) states that “a prescription for a controlled substance shall only be issued for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of his or her professional practice. The responsibility for the proper prescribing and dispensing…is upon the prescribing practitioner, but a corresponding responsibility rests with the pharmacist who fills the prescription.” (Italics added).

This means that a pharmacist may have engaged in unprofessional conduct if they fill one or more clearly excessive prescriptions. It is irrelevant if they are following any doctor or hospital’s directions.

Furthermore, the Board of Pharmacy expects you to be a pseudo detective and review the actions of doctors. The Board of Pharmacy wants you to evaluate doctors’ judgments and catch irregular conduct. For example, the Board of Pharmacy has disciplined pharmacists for failing to catch irregularities, including but limited to, filling or dispensing the following:

• An excessive number of prescriptions paid for without insurance;
• A large number of prescriptions starting with the highest strength available;
• Prescriptions for an excessive number of patients that live far away from the pharmacy;
• Many habit-forming drugs dispensed at the highest possible strength;
• Prescriptions for new patients at the highest possible strength;
• An excessive amount of high strength prescriptions from a single prescriber;
• Similar or identical prescriptions with the same irregularities or typos dispensed to multiple patients; and,
• Prescriptions in violation of your own company’s internal policies for identifying irregularities.

Nevertheless, you should not assume that you will lose your license if you have filled some improper prescriptions. A good professional license defense attorney can advocate for you to show that the filling of any improper prescriptions did not amount to the “clearly excessive furnishing of controlled substances” and hence no violation of Business and Professions Code §4301(d) occurred.

The disciplinary process occur can occur very quickly. You don’t want to lose your case because you didn’t act quickly.

You are already reading this as you desire more information, but why browse endless web pages looking for answers? Get the answers now. Call 866-790-2242 now for your free consultation.

(c)Malakauskas Law, APC. Attorney Advertisement. This website shall not be construed as legal advice and is for informational purposes only. Each and every case is different and requires an attorney to examine the specific case in question to arrive at an adequate legal conclusion. Consult with your own personal attorney for more information on the subject matters.