Hospital strike: 2,200 University of Chicago Medical Center nurses walk off the job

Hospital strike: 2,200 University of Chicago Medical Center nurses walk off the job

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-university-of-chicago-hospital-nurse-strike-20190920-7ddk2jacgbgsxea47kqwp6delu-story.html

Nurses at University of Chicago Medical Center — 2,200 of them — went on strike at 7 a.m. Friday, the first strike in the history of the 618-bed hospital, one of Chicago’s largest and most prestigious.

Hundreds of nurses wearing red shirts marched at the intersection of 58th Street and Maryland Avenue, holding signs that said, “On strike for my patients” and chanting, “What do we want? Safe staffing. When do we want it? Now.”

Though the nurses union called only a one-day strike, it will turn into a lockout. The nurses won’t be allowed to return to work until Wednesday morning because the hospital contracted with temporary nurses to take their places until that time.

The hospital spent the days leading up to the strike curtailing services in some areas. Dozens of babies and children who were in intensive care units were moved to other hospitals.

Nurses walk the picket line outside the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine at University of Chicago Medical Center on Sept. 20, 2019.
Nurses walk the picket line outside the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine at University of Chicago Medical Center on Sept. 20, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

The hospital went on full bypass late Wednesday, meaning it is asking ambulances to take new patients to other hospitals, including trauma patients — sparking concern from some in the community who spent years fighting for trauma services on the South Side.

It is also limiting transfers from other hospitals, temporarily closing some units, transferring some patients to other hospitals, and rescheduling some elective procedures.

Hospital spokeswoman Ashley Heher couldn’t say Friday whether the ambulance diversions and curtailed services would continue in the coming days. She said the hospital is continually assessing the situation. The union said that picketing would be limited to Friday.

The service cutbacks were necessary to ensure quality care for patients still in the hospital during the strike, said Dr. Stephen Weber, U. of C. Medicine’s chief medical officer.

“Fundamentally, no matter how many patients we’re caring for, we want to ensure the security and safety of each one of them,” Weber said.

He said he didn’t know Friday how many of the hospital’s beds were still occupied.

Some patients wove through the crowds of striking nurses early Friday to get to appointments at the hospital. A number stopped to take video on their phones of the chanting protesters.

Loeita Williams said she’s always been happy with the care she’s received at the hospital but she believes the nurses when they say they’re understaffed. The South Shore resident said she wasn’t concerned about the care she’d receive Friday because she was visiting for a straightforward appointment.

Renee Jackson, of Hyde Park, voiced her support for the strikers as she walked to her doctor’s office at the hospital Friday morning. She’s been particularly pleased with the nurses.

“I’ve seen them at work,” she said. “They deserve everything they’re asking for.”

Jean Greenberg watched the strike unfold from down the street Friday morning.

Her husband, who had lymphoma, was a patient at the hospital for years until he died in June. She said his nurses were excellent and she supports them in their strike, though she worried about the effects of the noise from the strike on arriving patients.

“If I had to bring my husband, as sick as he was, to this setting, it would have been very distressing,” Greenberg said.

Vivian Nunn, of the South Loop, visited the hospital Friday for a test. She said the strike didn’t have an impact on her care, but she could see how it might affect some patients. Nunn worked as an administrative assistant and clerk at the hospital more than 20 years ago.

“If I had to go to a regular floor and all the nurses were out here and we had temporary nurses in there, I’d be a little concerned,” Nunn said.

Still, she said she’s sure the temporary nurses are qualified, and she agrees with the striking nurses that they need more staff in certain departments.

The hospital said negotiations broke down late Wednesday over the issue of incentive pay for future job applicants. But Marti Smith, Midwest director of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, attributed the breakdown to disagreement on overtime and staffing issues that the nurses feel affect patient safety.

Marjorie Feria, who’s worked as an operating room nurse at the hospital for nearly five years, said nurses who usually work in the adult operating rooms are often expected to work in the pediatric operating rooms on weekends and holidays when pediatric operating nurses are short.

“It’s not optimal,” said Feria, standing outside the facility Friday morning. “As a nurse, patients trust you with their lives, and that’s something we all take seriously.”

Also outside the hospital was nurse Grazyna Cohen, who works with many cancer patients. She said she understands it would be expensive to hire more nurses but it’s time for the hospital to step up.

 

The hospital, it’s a financially, clinically, academically successful organization, and is in a position where they can very well afford to provide adequate staff,” Cohen said.

Racheal Feliz, a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, said it’s vital that nurses be able to provide the kind of care sick patients need.

″It’s important for us to be out here so we can fight for safe staffing ratios,” Feliz said.

A lineup of city aldermen, state lawmakers and other union leaders from across the city echoed the nurses’ comments at a rally outside the hospital midday Friday.

Weber disputed the nurses’ claim that more staffing is needed on a regular basis to keep patients safe.

“I think there’s very clear information that that’s just not the case,” Weber said. “The benchmarks show that nurse staffing is not our challenge. Like any place, we have other challenges but we’re going to keep directing our resources and investments based on the needs of our patients.”

Weber said Friday morning that things had gone smoothly at the hospital so far and that the hundreds of replacement nurses brought in to work during the strike had adjusted quickly.

Nurses will not return to the medical center until Wednesday because the hospital has said it needed to guarantee five days of work for replacement nurses in order to recruit as many as possible.

Hospital leaders said in a staff memo earlier this week that they had hoped to maintain normal hospital operations during the work stoppage.

But fewer replacement nurses were available than expected because nurses at about a dozen other hospitals across the country also planned to strike Friday, the memo stated. Also, the time between the notice of the strike and the day of the strike was shorter than it was during the last planned strike in 2015, the memo stated. That strike was averted shortly before it was scheduled to occur.

There was a similar nurses’ strike a number of years ago… as I remember in California… and their was AT LEAST ONE HORRIBLE ACCIDENT WHEN A PT DIED. There was this one female pts – very high acuity – and had both a central IV line and a implanted enteral feeding tube ( Jejunostomy feeding tube).  Somehow the “temporary nurse” got the two lines mixed  up and hooked up the enteral feeding to the IV tube and the IV bag to the enteral feeding tube…  While putting a IV solution into a enteral feeding tube will probably not do any harm – nor any good…. putting a enteral feeding solution in a IV line – WILL KILL YOU … which is what happened to this particular pt.  🙁

I am sure that there was numerous other “near misses”, that we did not hear about and hopefully this strike will not produce any “bad pt outcomes”

 

24 dose purchase limit of Imodium/Loperamide implemented.

FDA OKs New Packaging for OTC Loperamide to Help Stem Misuse, Abuse

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/918786

In its ongoing effort to stem misuse and abuse of loperamide (Imodium, Johnson & Johnson), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved changes to the packaging for brand-name, over-the-counter (OTC) tablet and capsule formulations of the opioid-based antidiarrheal medication.

The changes to Imodium A-D, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief, and Be Health Loperamide HCl Capsules limit each carton to no more than 48 mg of loperamide and require the tablets and capsules to be packaged in individual (unit-dose) blister packs, according to an FDA safety communication

The maximum approved daily dose for adults is 8 mg/day for OTC use and 16 mg/day for prescription use. Abuse and misuse of loperamide is an ongoing problem in the US, the FDA said, with some individuals taking higher-than-recommended doses of loperamide to treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal or to achieve euphoric effects of opioid use.

“The FDA has worked with manufacturers to approve package size limitations and unit-dose packaging for certain over-the-counter loperamide products. These changes are intended to increase the safe use of loperamide products without limiting over-the-counter access for consumers who use these products for their approved uses at the approved dose, according to labeling,” Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD, said in a statement.

He said the agency is also asking online distributors to take “voluntary steps to help reduce the risks of loperamide abuse and misuse by not selling more than one package of these drugs to each customer.” 

The FDA is also taking steps to ensure that consumers can easily access and read the product labeling and warnings for drugs sold on shelves or on websites before purchase.

In 2016, the FDA warned about life-threatening cardiac events, including QT interval prolongation, torsades de pointes or other ventricular arrhythmias, syncope, and cardiac arrest, with loperamide misuse and abuse, as reported by Medscape Medical News.   

In 2017, the FDA added a warning to the product label about the risk of taking high doses of loperamide. They noted that some individuals are taking higher-than-recommended doses of loperamide to treat symptoms of opioid withdrawal or to achieve euphoric effects of opioid use.

Also in 2017, the FDA added a Heart Alert warning to loperamide “drug facts” labels that warned consumers about the risks of taking higher-than-recommended doses.

The FDA said evidence suggests that package size limits and unit-dose packaging may reduce medication overdose and death.

In 2018, the agency asked manufacturers and packagers of OTC loperamide products to make these changes, as Medscape Medical News reported. Today, the FDA formally notified the public of these approved changes. 

Baltimore’s drug problem is all about crime and open borders, NOT opioid prescriptions

Baltimore’s drug problem is all about crime and open borders, NOT opioid prescriptions

https://www.conservativereview.com/news/baltimores-drug-problem-crime-open-borders-not-opioid-prescriptions/

As you can see, the entire surge since 2014 was all driven by fentanyl and cocaine. It was also initially driven by heroin overdoses, but much of that was because the cartels began lacing the heroin with fentanyl, just as they are doing today with cocaine. Every DEA and CBP agent I’ve spoken to tells me those are the biggest problems, and they are all coming from the Mexican cartels. Meth, another non-opioid, is also a big problem in the more rural states. The drugs are then processed and distributed primarily through criminal alien networks trafficking them without any fear of either being deported or serving hard time.

But the entire political class is focusing on prescription drugs and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. The reality is that opioid prescriptions have plummeted in Maryland, even as the fatalities surge. The prescribing rate in Maryland has dropped by 29 percent since 2011 and is now below the national average.

As you can see from the chart, just 379 of the overall 2,406 decedents in 2018 had prescription drugs in their toxicology reports. That is just 16 percent. But it’s really less than that. According to the annual report, almost all of those people also had other illicit drugs or alcohol in their blood. So, these were drug addicts, not chronic, stable pain patients who were wrongly prescribed by doctors or who were made addicted by the evil pharmaceutical companies.

This is why the trajectory of prescription overdoses has actually stayed fairly stable, unlike the fatalities for cocaine and fentanyl. Here are some more charts from the Maryland Department of Health report:

This is also why 73 percent of all decedents were male. If anything, there are more female chronic pain patients. The fact that most of the deaths are males demonstrates once again that this is not a painkiller addiction problem but more of a cultural problem of drugs and alcohol of all sorts, which overwhelmingly affects males more than females.

The 800-pound gorilla in the room when discussing Maryland’s illicit poly-drug crisis, not prescription opioid crisis, is of course Baltimore City. It accounted for 37 percent of all drug deaths in Maryland last year, even though it is just 10 percent of the state’s population of six million. Nearly half of those fatalities were from cocaine, which is not even an opioid. Drug traffickers are lacing the psychostimulant (cocaine) with a killer depressant (fentanyl).

Baltimore City is where one can find the worst convergence of “criminal justice reform,” aka not locking up drug traffickers, and sanctuary cities, aka not turning over criminal aliens to ICE. The most common “low-level” crime that illegal aliens are picked up on is drugs. To begin with, American drug traffickers barely serve any time in prison any more, particularly in Baltimore. Maryland’s prison population has plummeted by 29 percent over the past decade and is now lower than at any time since the 1980s. No wonder crime is now spiking to pre-1990s levels and Baltimore is now on pace for another year of record homicides. It’s the same reason why the drug crisis is worse than ever. Finding аn affordable bail bondsman does nоt hаvе tо bе difficult but іt does require a little research. Thіѕ саn easily bе dоnе bу checking wіth thе local authorities оr thе convenience оf thе internet. If a bail bond company саn provide a lоng list оf satisfied clients, оnе саn rеѕt assured thаt thе fate оf thеіr loved оnе іѕ іn thе hands оf a trustworthy company. A dependable bail bonds agent wіll gіvе thе help thаt іѕ needed durіng thіѕ stressful, difficult tіmе.

Drug charges, drunk driving оr оthеr legal issues аrе nоt tоо big fоr аn experienced bail bondsman. Nо matter whаt thе situation mау bе, a bail bond іѕ аlwауѕ available. Nо оnе ѕhоuld еvеr hаvе tо feel stuck оr hopeless whеn thеу аrе incarcerated оr whеn thеу аrе trying tо bail a friend оr family member оut оf jail.

If уоu hаvе a relative оr a near оnе іn jail thеn уоu need bail bond services getting hіm оut оf thе jail. Bail bonds аrе bonds thаt аrе dоnе bу thе bail bondsman tо gеt уоur loved оnе оut оf thе jail.

Bail bondsman іѕ thе person whо guarantees thаt thе person fоr whоm hе іѕ putting uр thе insurance wіll appear іn court. Thе bail bondsman bу himself саnnоt dо аnуthіng аѕ hе wіll need tо hаvе adequate money іn case thе said person does nоt appear. Thаt іѕ whу іn general thе bondsman wіll hаvе a tie uр wіth аn insurance agency аnd thаt insurance agency wіll provide thе insurance cover. Connecticut Bail Bonds Group available 24 hours easy and fast bail bond service.

Thеrе аrе a lot оf companies thаt operate оn a nationwide basis аnd hаvе offices іn аll major counties. Thеѕе bail companies employ thе bail bondsman tо help уоu оut. Onсе уоur relative оr friend hаѕ bееn detained thеn make sure tо саll thе bail bond agent аnd hе wіll start thе things аt hіѕ end.

In mоѕt cases thіѕ bail bond service companies аrе available 24 hours a day аnd уоu саn just gіvе thеm a саll. Make sure tо bе rеаdу wіth thе documentation thаt іѕ needed аѕ wеll аѕ thе fees thаt need tо bе given tо thе bail bond agent. Thе bets thіng tо dо іѕ tо gо fоr a local person whо іѕ reputed аnd hаѕ еnоugh contacts wіth thе jail authorities аѕ thаt саn help secure thе release vеrу quick аnd fast.

But removing the criminal alien gangs and cartel networks from the country would increase the prices of these drugs because the networks would be disrupted. As Robert Murphy, the DEA special agent in charge of Atlanta, told me earlier this year: “The people who are here operating the networks are all illegal immigrants. … Without the people, the cartels have no success.”

Why did the prices decrease so much right around the surge of Central American migrants in 2013-2014? The amalgamation of Obama’s border policies together with sanctuary policies has protected all of these trafficking networks. No wonder Baltimore City has a higher drug mortality rate (56.6 per 100,000) than any county even in hard-hit New Hampshire.

So, the next time Baltimore politicians want to discuss “low-level” drug offenses and the need to protect criminal aliens from ICE, just remember this is the true source of thousands of dead residents of Baltimore. Any focus on health care is a distraction of epic proportions from open borders, sanctuary cities, and weak-on-crime policies the politicians don’t want you to know about.

Coast Guard Commander Charged with Importing Narcotics

Coast Guard Commander Charged with Importing Narcotics

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/09/19/coast-guard-commander-charged-importing-narcotics.html

OAKLAND — A United States Coast Guard commander was charged with illegal importation of controlled substances Wednesday, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said.

According to a complaint, James Silcox III, 41, received three shipments of Tramadol, a controlled substance and narcotic, to post-office boxes over the summer.

In July, an 865-gram package from Singapore headed for a post-office box was flagged by Customs and Border Protections officers at the U.S. Postal Service’s international mail facility at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

Officers at the postal service’s San Francisco air-mail facility intercepted another 650-tablet Tramadol package from Singapore in August, before receiving another package September 13 that held 458 grams of Tramadol.

After law-enforcement officers swapped out the August package’s Tramadol for substitute material, they delivered it to Silcox’s post-office box Monday. He picked up the package the same day, and officers arrested him Tuesday at his Coast Guard Island residence.

Silcox was released on a personal-recognizance bond after appearing in San Francisco federal court Wednesday morning, and he will return Sept. 26 to identity counsel and attend a preliminary hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each violation, but federal sentencing guidelines will ultimately affect any imposed sentence.

In addition, indictments are only allegations of committed crimes and Silcox is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Griswold is prosecuting the case, which came from an investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations; the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area-Transnational Narcotics Team; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General; and the Coast Guard Investigation Service,

Here is a report from the DOJ about the DEA

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/DEA%20Quota.pdf?token=AWzUGmSNaWNztF1-OwxoYDqgeKVT5RLNGdMtrYWDhQsG8V5RUnPTkGMPbDJE-vnXJ1syacnixAPNGqYl7v1z7qC2Yp7UD4UmhNP-8655nNvhbNY6EYr14GUNGL-I8iTM-v9-nOxYqnyo13fnSfJnnkibl74DACLra0vaA5lS8rHZ-awLTKdz7epJIXfehvWi95R2NZSQYBxi_7nTQ2bfRiS-

 

a couple of interesting quotes:

The NSS and NFLIS data reports included total seized Weight without reference to whether it is finished dosage forms. container weight. tablets or pill weight provides no reference to specific API concentrations; and the databases do not distinguish between pharmaceutically and illicitly manufactured controlled substances …..

As a result of considering the extent of diversion, DEA notes that the quantity of FDA-approved drug products that correlate to diverted controlled substances in 2018 represents less than one percent of the total quantity of controlled substances distributed to retail purchasers.

This is a 22 page document dates Sept 2019… the above is just a couple of quotes that I pulled out of the report…  Appears to show how convoluted the mythology in how they come to final conclusions on the legit use and abuse of various legal and illegal opiates.

 

Enforcing the law is more important than relieving a pt’s pain from stage 4 cancer ?

“Just doing my job harassing and searching a stage 4 cancer patients bags for a plant.” This is TRULY pathetic. Not bravery. Not protecting the community. Just pathetic! This man could have days to live but you waste his time searching his possessions because ‘it’s the law?’ Disgusting!

Dispensing Wrong Medications Leads to Patient’s Death

Dispensing Wrong Medications Leads to Patient’s Death

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/publications/issue/2019/september2019/dispensing-wrong-medications-leads-to-patients-death

ISSUE OF THE CASE
When a transcription error by a pharmacy technician while taking medication orders over the phone led to the death of a patient, did the trial court judge make an error when disallowing the surviving family members to seek damages based on aggravating circumstances?

FACTS OF THE CASE
A female patient was hospitalized in a Midwestern state for fluid buildup in her lungs. When the time came for her to be discharged, a nurse at the hospital called in prescriptions for multiple medications to a local chain pharmacy. One of those orders was for a diuretic, metolazone.

The call was taken by a tech who, the court emphasized, “had no formal pharmacy training or education before becoming a pharmacy technician. She had worked in the floral department before moving to the pharmacy.”

The tech made numerous transcription errors, misspelling the names of several medications being ordered, misspelling the name of the nurse on the other end of the phone call, and recording an incorrect birth date for the patient. The tech also made an error related to the dosage of an inhaler being prescribed, with what she recorded being 10 times the correct dosage.

The gravest hazard, however, came from misrecording a daily dosage of methotrexate instead of the metolazone that was intended. How could that occur? The pharmacy expert retained by the family testified that the approach used in the pharmacy was for the tech to look in the computer where the medications were arranged alphabetically by name. A drop-down menu would appear after the first 3 letters or so of the drug name that had been entered. The pharmacy expert opined that entering m-e-t and a dosage strength of 2.5 mg would bring up methotrexate before metolazone.

The pharmacist who had been on duty the day the dispensing error was made testified that he had approved the prescription before it was dispensed. He stated that the dosage being prescribed would have been safe if administered once or twice per week but not on a daily basis. His statement at trial was that “for some reason, I didn’t recognize the weekly versus daily. It didn’t click in my mind.”

The pharmacy expert testified that the Institute for Safe Medication Practices classifies methotrexate as a “high-alert” drug product and that many pharmacy computer systems include a “hard stop” that prevents printing a label indicating that it should be taken once per day.

When the husband picked up the medication, he was asked whether he had any questions for the pharmacist. When he responded that he did not, the pharmacy staff member provided no further counseling or warning about the medication, even though the pharmacy manual of the chain specified that it “strongly recommends” that all patients with new prescriptions receive patient counseling, even if not required by state law. The pharmacy expert opined that such counseling should be provided with high-alert drugs.

The family filed the lawsuit based on wrongful death reasoning, naming the hospital and pharmacy as defendants. They also sought additional damages, due to aggravating circumstances (ie, those present in the transaction that increase the culpability or severity of the action). The hospital settled the claim, and the matter against the pharmacy chain proceeded to court. The trial court jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of $2 million, but that amount was reduced to $125,000, pursuant to damage caps included in state law. The pharmacy chain made a motion that the aggravating circumstances portion of the case be dismissed, and the judge granted that motion. The family appealed the judge’s denial of that portion of the case.

THE RULING
The 3-judge panel of the state court of appeals concluded that the trial court erred when deciding in favor of the pharmacy chain on the aggravating circumstances damages issue. The case was remanded to the trial court for a new trial on the sole issue of aggravating circumstances.

THE COURT’S REASONING
The court looked at several issues related to the aggravating circumstances. The judges said that a jury could conclude that the chain’s “decision to leave the decision whether to counsel patients to the discretion of individual pharmacists exhibited conscious indifference to patient safety, when the consequences of prescription errors were potentially lethal.” Further, the evidence “would have permitted the jury to conclude that [the chain] has made no meaningful changes to its proce- dures as a result of [the woman’s] death.”

The court stated that the chain’s “failure to take any meaningful corrective action following [the woman’s] death supports the conclusion that its conduct exhibited complete indifference or conscious disregard for [her] safety.”
 

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/B07J488Q3B/ref=sr_1_1

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. 

In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.

Zantac Generic Pulled From Markets Worldwide

Zantac Generic Pulled From Markets Worldwide

Novartis unit says it’s stopping distribution while contamination is investigated

https://www.medpagetoday.com/gastroenterology/gerd/82238

One manufacturer of generic ranitidine (Zantac), Novartis’s Sandoz unit, has reportedly decided to halt distribution of the antacid drug until a contamination issue is resolved.

Last week, the FDA said some lots of ranitidine, a histamine H2 inhibitor, were found to contain small amounts of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), considered to be a human carcinogen. NDMA is a member of the nitrosamine family of chemicals also found to have contaminated some angiotensin receptor blocker drugs, sparking an uproar that still hasn’t died down.

“A precautionary distribution stop of all Sandoz ranitidine-containing medicines in all our markets will remain in place under further clarification, this includes capsules in the USA,” according to a Novartis statement quoted in the Wall Street Journal. “Our internal investigation is ongoing to determine further details. In case of concerns, adequate additional measures will be implemented in alignment with relevant Health Authorities as required.”

Ranitidine is sold in both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) forms primarily to relieve gastroesophageal reflux and for gastric and intestinal ulcer prevention. The FDA didn’t indicate which particular products were affected since they are not being recalled at this time; the generic drug is available from other companies besides Sandoz.

Although no recall was ordered, the FDA said last week that patients using OTC ranitidine “could consider using other OTC medicines approved for their condition. There are multiple drugs on the market that are approved for the same or similar uses as ranitidine.”

Patients taking prescription ranitidine who wish to switch to another medication should consult their physicians, the FDA said.

 

DEA Serves Inspection Warrants at Kaiser Pharmacies Across the Country

DEA Serves Inspection Warrants at Kaiser Pharmacies Across the Country

https://ktla.com/2019/09/17/dea-serves-inspection-warrants-at-kaiser-pharmacies-across-the-country/

The Drug Enforcement Administration served inspection warrants at Kaiser Permanente pharmacies across the country, officials said Tuesday.

The Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills is seen in a photo taken on Sept. 17, 2019. (Credit: KTLA)

Agents are monitoring the prescription and administering of controlled substances and inspecting pharmacy records, Special Agent Kyle Mori, a spokesman for the DEA, told KTLA.

It is unclear how many warrants were issued Tuesday, but some Southern California locations include Woodland Hills, Riverside and Victorville.

Mori said the warrants are under seal and he couldn’t comment on the investigation.

He added, however, that inspections are typically conducted to help officials regulate the health care and pharmaceutical industry and those involved in prescribing, manufacturing or handling controlled substances.

The inspections tend to take a few hours and at the conclusion, the affected pharmacies will reopen.

In a statement, Kaiser said officials are cooperating fully with the federal agency.

“As always, we are committed to complying with state and federal regulations and ensuring the safety of our patients and members,” the statement read.