Pharmacy Liability

1
Pharmacy Liability

The Basics of a Malpractice Claim
James E. Girards The Girards Law
Firm Girardslaw.com 214.346.9529
2
The Players

• The Pharmacy
• Pharmacist in Charge
• Staff Pharmacist
• Pharmacy Technician

3
Negligence related to Filling a Prescription

• Wrong drug
• Wrong dose
• Incorrect instructions
• incorrect route of administration or
• incorrect duration of therapy

4
Negligence related to Filling a Prescription

• Failure to counsel patient appropriately - The
  pharmacist is charged with the duty of properly
  counseling the patient in the use of the drug
  being filled. The pharmacist is to provide
  information that in his judgment is significant,
  such as name and description of the drug, the
  dosage, route and duration of administration,
  special considerations and precautions, common
  severe side effects, proper storage, refill
  information, and action to be taken if a dose is
  missed. Texas Pharmacy Rules, 22 TAC
  291.33(c)

5
Negligence related to Filling a Prescription

• Dispensing a combination of drugs that will
  adversely interact
• Dispensing a prescription drug despite an allergy
  history to that drug
• Failure to question over-prescription or
  inappropriate use of prescription drugs and

6
Negligence related to Filling a Prescription

• Failure to properly label the medication
• Name, address, and phone number of the pharmacy,
• unique identification number of the prescription,
  date dispensed,
• name or initials of the pharmacist,
• name of prescriber,
• name of the patient,
• instructions for use,
• quantity dispensed,
• storage information, and
• cautionary statements.

7
Drug Regimen Review

• The Pharmacist must review the patients
  medication history for allergies, adverse
  interactions, contraindications, duplication of
  therapy, and reasonable dose, route, and
  instructions.

8
Always Remember

• Only the Pharmacist may receive a telephone
  prescription
• If there is any question about the accuracy of
  the prescription the Pharmacist must phone the
  prescribing physician to clarify

9
Essential Materials

• Your States Pharmacy Manual
• All prescription history records from every
  pharmacy that the patient has or may have gone to
• The hard-copy prescription at issue
• The pill bottle and remaining pills
• All related medical records

10
Discovery

• All pharmacy records
• All Pharmacy policies and procedures
• All pharmacy reports daily, hourly, by
  pharmacist, by physician, third-party payor,
  misfill history, and incident reports
• Computer system manual

11
Final Thoughts

• Always investigate your patient
• Always consider the issue of communication with
  the physician does he need to be included in
  the suit
• Always consider manufacturer liability issues
  what was the color, shape, labeling, and name of
  the medication
• Consider the layout of the pharmacy location and
  placement of the tablet bottles. Were the
  subject tables next to each other causing
  confusion?

12
Pharmacy Liability

The Basics of a Malpractice Claim
James E. Girards The Girards Law
Firm Girardslaw.com 214.346.9529