A pharmacy in North Carolina is set to pay a $500,000 penalty and be subject to an injunction after the facility failed to prevent the filing of controlled substances to vulnerable individuals.
The action comes after Elk Pharmacy Inc., Larry Irwin, the pharmacy’s owner, and pharmacists Susan Baker, S. Jason Couch, Beth Pence, and Lori Wyble allegedly filled prescriptions violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
“The pharmacists at Elk Pharmacy Inc. had a corresponding responsibility, along with the prescribing practitioners, to only dispense prescriptions for a legitimate medical purpose,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Murphy of the DEA Atlanta Division.
U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder for the Middle District of North Carolina handed out the injunction on the pharmacy and the financial penalty. The injunction prohibits the defendants from filling specific “red flag” prescriptions and requires them to fill other orders only after receiving documentation justifying them.
North Carolina pharmacy faces action and $500,000 penalty
The evidence presented at court revealed that Elk Pharmacy and the defendants were dispensing opioids without seeing apparent signs that the medicine could be abused or used for illegal purposes.
This included, said the court report, information that presented “obvious indications of drug abuse, drug diversion, and drug-seeking behavior.”
One example, according to the evidence presented in North Carolina, showed that the defendants filed an order that was a cocktail of combination prescriptions, one that has the potential to be incredibly harmful.
This was just one form of illicit prescription filing, but others included prescriptions “for long-term, high-dose opioids that exceeded known recommendations for treating pain; filled prescriptions for patients who appeared to be “shopping” for doctors or pharmacies; and filled prescriptions written by prescribers known to be suspected of illegal prescribing, including one doctor who the North Carolina Medical Board had barred from prescribing controlled substances.”
“Pharmacists are trained professionals who cannot simply rubber-stamp doctors’ prescriptions,” said U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina. “They have an independent responsibility to ensure that the prescriptions they fill are for a legitimate medical purpose.”
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