Bill would protect pharmacists who refuse to fill prescription
House Bil No. 4405 was passed by the House in June of 2017 is up for discussion, but has yet to be voted on by the Senate Committee.
A pharmacists may refuse to dispense a prescription for a controlled substance if the pharmacist has reason to believe that the prescription was written for fraudulent reasons or being filled for a purpose that is not a medical purpose.
The amendment to the House Bill would protect the pharmacist from being liable for any damages that end in injury, death, or loss to a person or property because the pharmacist wouldn’t fill it.
You can view the Bill online here.
“A pharmacists may refuse to dispense a prescription for a controlled substance if the pharmacist has reason to believe that the prescription was written for fraudulent reasons or being filled for a purpose that is not a medical purpose.”
Both of the above conditions means that the prescription is illegal/fraudulent prescription and the Pharmacist has a legal/professional responsibility to call the authorities. If the Pharmacist returns the prescription to the pt… then – IMO – the pharmacist is NOT CONFIDENT – does not have FACTS – that the prescription meets the above criteria. So they decline to fill the prescriptions because “they are not comfortable” So will “not comfortable” meet the above criteria for valid denial of filling a controlled substance ?
Also, the fact that this law is isolating a particular “type of pt”… does this make this proposed law in conflict with the Americans with Disability Act and/or Civil Rights Act and thus UNCONSTITUTIONAL… but… if signed into law… and no one challenges the CONSTITUTIONALITY of this proposed law.. it will be enforced as written
Filed under: General Problems
Reason to believe or “professionally judged” illegal/fraudulent is the Standand of Practice and has been written Florida law for decades and this bill would be redundant there.
If any Pharmacist returns a prescription to a patient with an explanation of “I am NOT comfortable” I will state that the Pharmacist has failed to perform his/her due diligence and may be committing malpractice.
If all steps to validate a prescription are taken:
a. Consult with Doctor
b. Speak with Patient
c. Review State Prescription Monitoring Program
d. Review local county sheriff office public information data base for recent drug arrests or aberrant behavior,
Then and ONLY then, two things should happen.
1. It is vetted as valid and filled to completion.
2. It is determined to be illegal/fraudulent, not filled, NOT returned to the patient and proper authorities / regulatory agencies are notified. The doctor writing the prescription would be reported to authorities as well.
If anything else than the above occurs at the Pharmacy, IMO, the Pharmacist is violating the Oath of Practice and has failed in his/job. If the Doctor fails to communicate or can not be reached, and the prescription can not be fully vetted the patient may demand for the return of the prescription. The prescription MUST be returned as that paper is their legal property and withholding it is a violation of law. The patient then is responsible for their prescription not being filed, not the pharmacist.
Florida’s response to Pharmacists subjectively refusing valid and poorly vetted prescriptions resulting in denial of care, access to needed medication, and endangerment of public safety was to pass a law REQUIRING that ALL Pharmacists take ALL steps needed to validate a prescription. The law contains special education requirements for the Pharmacists to do so. Beginning 2018 all Florida Pharmacists will have complicated that training. Subjective refusal of a prescription MAY then be grounds for discipline by the Board of Pharmacy. Patients that know their prescription is valid/legal and have their prescription refused should file a complaint against both the pharmacists and the company where they work.
Here’s the law:
64B16-27.831 Standards of Practice for the Filling of Controlled Substance Prescriptions:
LINK:
https://www.flrules.org/gateway/readFile.asp?sid=0&tid=16866377&type=1&File=64B16-27.831.doc
Feel free to copy and paste the above:
Why don’t they pass a bill that stops people from suing the dr, pharmacist and the manufacturer from being liable when the patient isn’t being ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE for their prescription??? All these people being sued cuz someone overdoses has to stop. If you can’t be responsible you don’t deserve the scripts at all.
They should be suing the dealer that the street drugs came from.
Millions haven’t died from their scripts as they were taken as directed. If all this stuff was true, no one would be commenting or trying to fight this. All the people fighting this to keep or get back their scripts would be dead…..if scripts really killed??
Could it be that its really the street drugs killing people? No kidding!!!!
“Why don’t they pass a bill that stops people from suing the dr, pharmacist and the manufacturer from being liable when the patient isn’t being ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIBLE for their prescription??? All these people being sued cuz someone overdoses has to stop. If you can’t be responsible you don’t deserve the scripts at all.”
But, Kel, we would be making people take responsibility for their own actions. God forbid!! We can’t have that … unless it involves other substances not related to opioids – other medications that can be abused (gaba, stimulants, etc), alcohol, flakka, crack, cocaine, meth. They were always ready to lock up the crack addicts of the 80’s, meth addicts in the 90’s (and now), and they’re always ready to lock up one who abuses alcohol and acts “disorderly” or “insane” in public. Prescription opioid overdoses are always the fault of the doctors, pharm co, and pharmacists. Imagine that concept – holding adults responsible for their own actions. (*sarcasm* I completely agree with your post).
There is a law,,its called ,”informed consent,” but judges are not honoring it in the court room,,maryw
How do we stop this,,It is allowing a pharmacist to break the law,,It is allowing a pharmacist to commit torture and to practice medicine w/out a liscence,,,,Again,,they are making up laws to protect the guilty,,wtf,,,Is there anywhere we can comment??maryw