Board revokes Hanover County pharmacist’s license for excessive dispensing of drugs
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/4bd38d3d84dc4d2582f637de39efe68c/VA–Pharmacist-License
From the article:
The investigation found that Harris’ pharmacy, Beaverdam Pharmacy, filled 338 prescriptions for oxycodone, hydromorphone and other controlled substances for 55 patients from Kentucky, Georgia and Florida in 2012 and 2013.
CVS has tens of thousands of opiate doses missing and they get fined.. has anyone seen where any of the RPH’s involved or the CVS stores involved… got any licenses suspended or revoked ?
This INDEPENDENT PHARMACIST filled – a average – of ONE Rx PER DAY over two years.. and the state REVOKED the RPH’s license.. which – I surmised – shut the store down and out of business.
Normally, penalties should take in consideration.. the net worth of the individual.. you want the consequences to be painful in relation to their assets..
As of today the market cap of CVS is nearly 90 BILLION dollars.. so a 29 million dollar fine.. is “pocket change” for that corporation.. Revoking a RPH’s license and closing his business seems like a bit more than “pocket change ” for him.
Maybe the headline should have been .. THE VA BOP IMPOSED EXCESSIVE PENALTY ON RPH !
Filed under: General Problems
Maybe this pharmacist should have thought about the consequences of filling questionable rx’s. ON AVERAGE ONE A DAY. Really? How many out of state narcotic rx’s do you see? Personally, I might see one every few months and they rarely get filled. Why? Because I know better. I understand the struggles of independent pharmacists. Filling those rx’s puts money in his pocket and allows him to feed his family and pay his bills. Yes, the penalty seems out of line with what happened to CVS but he still has nobody to blame but himself. I’d like to see some more details on this case. Were these cash transactions or was real insurance involved? The doctors have since lost their licenses. Did this pharmacist know that they were under investigation? Did he care? We as pharmacists have a responsibility to help control controlled substances. This pharmacist did not do his job.
Well that’s a sorry thing to do, they guy was just trying to make a living and gets shut down over filling a few out of state opiate scripts. He should have just gone to work for CVS and not have to worry about getting in trouble over filling a few lousy scripts.