Nevada Supreme Court Case

I've discussed this case previously on the blog, but the Nevada Supreme Court rendered a decision in Walmart v. Sanchez. This decision has a positive outcome for pharmacists.

The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that pharmacies are not liable for the actions of their customers when those medicated patients cause harm to third parties. The much-anticipated ruling comes in a case filed against Wal-Mart and other local pharmacies involving a Las Vegas woman who killed one person and injured another while driving under the influence of prescription drugs.

Follow Up on Nevada Pharmacy Case

Here is a more recent article regarding Sanchez v. Wal Mart Stores et al. I posted an article from the Wall Street Journal earlier.

I was interviewed by USA Lawyer's Weekly regarding this case recently and I will post the article when it is online.

My thoughts on the defense are different. Rather than saying that this would be a burden on pharmacists and that not all pharmacies have Internet access, the focus should be on the woman. If the state had time to put her on a list of people suspected of doctor shopping, why couldn't the state bring charges against her? Target the offender, not the pharmacists.

Pharmacy Liability Case

This blog post is from the Wall Street Journal. It addresses whether a pharmacy in Nevada is liable for the actions of a patient who abused pharmacy drugs. The pharmacies in the area were sent a letter warning them of this particular woman. Does this knowledge hold them liable?

A lawsuit filed by the victims and their families against Wal-Mart, who dispensed a painkiller prescription to Copening, asks whether drugstores must use information at their disposal to protect the public from potentially dangerous customers. In this case, state officials had sent letters to 14 pharmacies in the Las Vegas area warning that Copening could be abusing drugs.