State revokes license of Burbank pharmacy that sold drugs to patients who died
From the article:
The board faulted the pharmacy for feeding the addictions of four other patients who later died with the same kinds of drugs that were filled at Jay Scott Drugs. Even if there was insufficient evidence to prove that the lethal pills were the same ones obtained at Jay Scott, the board’s decision said the pharmacy had been routinely filling the prescriptions and therefore fueling addiction.
Juarez found that Bass — but not Bamdad — had an obvious prescribing pattern and patient profiles that should have drawn the attention of Daher and his colleagues. He also found that the pharmacists committed professional misconduct by dismissing the long distances traveled by patients and cash payments for commonly abused narcotics as red flags for abuse.
The judge wrote that he found no evidence that Daher or any of the pharmacists had “an improper alliance” with Bass or Bamdad. Their transgressions, he wrote, were committed “without the intention of violating the law.”
Juarez wrote that the evidence did not prove that the drugs dispensed by Daher contributed to any of the deaths, including Snay’s.
Daher said he raised concerns about Bass’ prescriptions with a medical board investigator and pharmacy board officials before the deaths but was not told to stop filling them. He also pointed out that an earlier investigation based on the same evidence ended with an investigator determining there was “insufficient evidence” against him.
Kind of reminds you of the three witches at the beginning of MacBeth
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble
Filed under: General Problems
Maybe I am missing something here.. there was SIXTEEN DAY ALJ hearing which did not find sufficient evidence of wrong doing by the pharmacy and the pharmacy had previously called the medical board about the prescribing habits of this practice..and there was insufficient evidence to determine wrong doing of the practice. I would put money on the table that if this had been a chain store.. it would not have been shut down… because the BOP would know that the chains have deeper pockets than they do..to fight it in court..but.. since this was a independent… who probably doesn’t have the resources to challenge the BOP in court… let’s just make an example of this store.. As it was stated in the article that it was UNUSUAL for the BOP to go against a ALJ hearing decision..
While I do disagree with the BOP’s decision, I am at odds with your assessment that this was a witch hunt. I recall seeing many prescriptions from these docs usually for a cocktail of opiates, ibuprofen, and a benzo. Mostly for young men with “back pain and anxiety”. Always “I’ll pay cash.” We turned these folks away.
The real tragedy is that something was not done about these doctors sooner. The article fails to mention that Dr Bass took his own life.