LAST EDITED ON 05-08-12 AT 08:52 AM (EST)

Ok, I'll first state for the record that the CVS pharmacist in question could be an completely useless fool, but we need more info on the series of events on the other side of the counter before we take the word of her lawyer as gospel. I'll elaborate on potential problems that could have led to this and it not be "unfathomable negligence".

The biggest red flag to me is hospital prescriptions themselves. So many times they will have a sticker with the patients name and admitting Dr, then the prescription and a signature from the Dr. Way too many times (most) the Dr signing the prescription isn't the doctor who's name is on the sticker with the patient. Could be a resident signing the discharge orders, could be a specialist that saw the patient while they were there, yada yada.. a lot of times they will just sign it with their signature and no other info. Badabing the signature is just some flourished garbage and the pharmacist assumes it is the doctor's name that is printed out on the sticker. So let's say the pharmacist calls the doctor who's name is on the prescription (let's say he was the admitting doctor, not the one who treated her) and he says "Hell no, I never wrote a prescription for Norco for that patient, it must be a forgery, call the police."

What prompted the phone call on the refill? My guess is that after the first pharmacist filled the prescription another pharmacist came along and said to himself "Dr AyaK? He is an ER doctor, they never put refills on narc prescriptions, I wonder if this was altered?" because, in fact they have seen that happen so many times before.

There isn't a pharmacist that I've run across that enjoys being a cop. It's the worst part of the job. And I apologize to any legitimate pain sufferers who's pharmacists have looked at them crosswise when their prescriptions are completely legit. It's the nature of the industry, we get lied to our faces on a daily basis from people with the same prescriptions, and if we are not "twice shy" on filling them there is a reason. You don't want to end up on the other end of the spectrum like this (ironically) CVS pharmacy. It would be so much easier financially and from a time standpoint just to "shut up and fill the damn thing" but ethically and legally we are bound to take all the steps that a reasonable pharmacist would do to ensure the safety and validity of the prescription.

I'd really like to see the prescription, but I'd bet that there was a string of events that happened and this pharmacist is where it came to a head.