Legal News

Police put pharmacists in criminal dilemma

By (Click The Law)

Pharmacy Criminal Defense

State and federal laws prohibit pharmacists from filling prescriptions they know to be fraudulent, yet local police conducting sting operations are instructing pharmacists to break those laws.

Instead of arresting a suspect for passing a bogus prescription, detectives are telling pharmacists to fill the prescription while officers wait outside, ready to arrest the person carrying the pills.

Police get better evidence for court, and the suspect faces more time in prison on a more serious drug trafficking charge.

But caught in the middle are pharmacists who must balance their professional obligations as a health care provider with helping law enforcement in an action that is a crime and could put their professional licenses at risk.

As law enforcement agencies focus more resources on battling the illegal prescription drug trade, leaders in the pharmacy community are divided on what to do when asked to break dispensing laws.

The stings put pharmacists in a potentially dangerous situation that turns them from health care provider to an arm of law enforcement, the Florida Pharmacy Association says. And it may open them up to liability in a civil lawsuit if something went wrong.

Full post as published by Click the Law on June 08, 2010 (boomark / email).