Pharmacy Law: Lawsuit to Resume Pharmacy Access to Controlled Substances
From the article:
Owners of a pharmacy in a southwestern state filed a lawsuit against a national pharmacy wholesale organization seeking to have the court order the distributor to cease its action of cutting off the pharmacy from supplies of controlled substances.
The distributor had decided to cease shipment of controlled substances to the pharmacy based on an internal review of purchasing patterns.
The Board of Pharmacy then entered the picture when a compliance officer conducted an ordering and dispensing inspection. This resulted in a citation from the state regulatory agency for drug overages and shortages as well as for having in stock medications that were out of date. It is noteworthy, however, that the state board made no specific findings of product diversion and there was no adverse board action against either the pharmacy or the pharmacist-in-charge.
At the time of the hearing on the matter in federal trial court, the DEA had taken no adverse action regarding the pharmacy’s registration with that agency. Further, no federal or state regulatory agency had concluded that diversion was occurring at the pharmacy.
The court also weighed the potential damage to the pharmacy versus the possible harm to the wholesaler, concluding that the plaintiff pharmacy owners who were seeking the temporary injunction had “failed to demonstrate sufficient irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction.”
Does this validate the old saying “Too Big To Fail… and .. Too Small To Matter ” ?
Filed under: General Problems
So, not being able to fill narcotic rx’s is not suppose to harm the pharmacy? And, what about the patient going to another pharmacy and not just taking that one narcotic rx with them but all their meds? Again, the little guy does not stand a chance because everything is stacked against him.