State fines pharmacy $90 million for Internet prescriptions

AP ^ | May 28, 2002 | JESSICA BRICE

[Cultural Jihad]

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state is demanding nearly $90 million from a Los Angeles pharmacy and two pharmacists for allegedly filling more than 3,500 illegal Internet prescriptions, state officials announced Tuesday.

It marks the first time the state has taken action under a new law that makes it illegal to fill prescriptions without a "good-faith medical examination" in which the prescribing doctor has full access to a patient's medical records.

[Cultural Jihad]

Watch the feigned outrage of those who also claim that recreational poisons should be legalized so as to allow proper regulation.

[joeyman]

So what happens when the state finds out these guys don't have the money?

[Cultural Jihad]

Hmmm. I'm really not sure, joeyman. Assumably the criminals took in at least as many thousands and millions of dollars from unwary consumers.

[Timesink]

Unwary consumers? What, they thought Propecia was for brain tumors and Viagra for bladder control?

[tpaine]

CJ, your supposed right to destroy yourself infringes on my right to pursue happiness, being sad at having to sit by and watch people needlessly suffer and die. When you abrogate the unalienable right to life, doing so abrogates my unalienble right to pursue happiness, being sad at watching people needlessly suffer and die. This is an unfeigned outrage that you are advocating.

[Eugene Tackleberry]

"did not have access to the patient's medical records, including information regarding other prescription drugs being taken by the patient"

Since when does a doctor have to have access to all your medical records to write a prescription? The general practictioner has to have your records from the dermatologist, the dentist, the psychiatrist, and the chiropracter to give you an antibiotic for strep throat?

Secondly, unless a person sees one doctor for ALL of his/her medical needs, the doctors are relying on the patient to voluntarily disclose any prescription drugs he or she is taking. Medical records are not (yet) some kind of all-ecompassing legal document that tells you anything and everything about the patient.

I think the real problem here is two-fold:

(1) We can't have the medical establishment being challenged by low-cost competitors.

(2) We can't have people taking more control over the medical care and their prescriptions. The nanny state, in conjuction with the medical establishment, can make better decisions for you than you can.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It marks the first time the state has taken action under a new law that makes it illegal to fill prescriptions without a "good-faith medical examination" in which the prescribing doctor has full access to a patient's medical records.

So much for "Doc In The Box" and similar IN-PERSON walk-in physician services. Or for the emergency physician at the local hospital for that matter.

[billybudd]

The state is running a budget deficit this year, so naturally, it's time to ramp up the shakedown.

[Free the USA]

It marks the first time the state has taken action under a new law that makes it illegal to fill prescriptions without a "good-faith medical examination" in which the prescribing doctor has full access to a patient's medical records.

I know California is a socialist paradise where reason has no place but how can you hold a pharmacy responsible because some Doctor failed to perform an adequate patient review before writing a prescription?

[toddst]

So much for "Doc In The Box" and similar IN-PERSON walk-in physician services. Or for the emergency physician at the local hospital for that matter.

You are correct. Of course, this assumes equal application of this wacky law, which certainly won't happen. Let's hope Davis is dumped along with a large number of the liberal legislators, so some degree of sanity can return to California.

[monkeyshine]

The scrips were written by doctors. Now you are telling us that we are required to hand over all of our medical records to every doctory we see in order to get scrips?

If you had a doctor in NY and he told you to take a beta blocker, and you came to CA, wouldn't you have a reasonable expectation of being able to get your meds, even though the doctor wasn't "licesned" in California?

The fact is, doctors today are very busy. I sometimes call my doctor and tell him I have strep infection. I've had it 14 times in my life and I know what it is. He writes a scrip for amoxicillin over the phone. What's the problem with that? How is that different than this?

[Cultural Jihad]

You'll have to contact the U.S. District Attorney's office for your answers. On the surface, if the law requires a doctor's prescription, and some e-commerce outfit is spamming people with email for their services whereby out-of-state doctors are rubber-stamping prescriptions when all that gets scrutinized are the credit card numbers and expiration dates, then a court of law will sort out the particulars.