“The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.” – Hubert Humphrey
passionate pachyderms
Pharmacist Steve steve@steveariens.com 502.938.2414
Pharmacy prescription pickup gets man arrested with 6 days in jail
The pharmacist didn’t bother contacting the prescriber about illegible and properly filled out Rx.. just called police and the pt is not suing the pharmacist/pharmacy ?
A Pennsylvania man has filed a civil rights lawsuit against three Town of Warwick police officers, saying he was unlawfully arrested and prosecuted for having a painkiller prescription filled at a pharmacy.
Joseph Quattrochi’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, also names the Town of Warwick and the Town of Warwick Police Department as defendants.
The three officers – Michael Moon, Jason Brasier and Felix Oresto – are being sued individually and in their official capacities.
The allegations stem from a July 3, 2014 incident when Quattrochi, a Tamiment, Pa., resident, came to pick up the painkiller, oxycodone, from the Apple Valley Pharmacy in Warwick. The prescription, written by Dr. Carl Anderson, had been dropped off a couple of days earlier.
According to the lawsuit, a pharmacy employee had contacted Warwick police and reported that the prescription was illegible and not properly filed.
After Quattrochi left the pharmacy with the medication, he was stopped by the three officers and arrested for forgery and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
Quattrochi told the officers that the prescription was not a forgery and was given by his doctor, the lawsuit says, but he was taken to town court, arraigned and denied bail.
According to the lawsuit, Quattrochi spent six days in jail and was released July 9 without bail. All charges against him were dismissed Sept. 5.
The lawsuit says the three officers had a duty to contact Dr. Anderson or take other steps to determine if the prescription was genuine.
By arresting and prosecuting Quattrochi, the lawsuit says, they deprived him of “his constitutional right to be free from false arrest under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.”
Warwick police did not return phone calls for comment.
James Gerstner, deputy supervisor for Warwick, said the town has received the lawsuit and had forwarded paperwork to its attorney and its insurer.
Quattrochi is seeking unspecified monetary damages and attorney fees.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The manufacture of methamphetamine is sharply down in certain Midwestern states that have had the most trouble with the drug over the years, but it remains as popular as ever with users because of an influx of cheap Mexican imports, experts say.
Laws restricting the sale of an ingredient found in many cold medicines and key to making meth seem to have had their intended effect: The Drug Enforcement Administration does not provide partial-year data on meth lab seizures, but drug fighters in several states that generally register the most meth lab busts say they have seen a startling decline.
Missouri is on pace for 40 percent fewer meth lab seizures this year than last, according to Missouri State Highway Patrol data. Oklahoma busts are on pace to drop 33 percent, and Tennessee’s are down 48 percent.
But the steep decline does not mean users are turning away from the highly addictive drug.
“What we’re hearing throughout the Midwest from our colleagues is they’re all seeing meth labs drop, but it’s critical to note that no state is saying meth use is down,” said Mark Woodward of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. “It’s just that they’ve switched sources from cooking it to importing it.
“Meth use and addiction are still epidemic,” he said.
The number of meth lab seizures nationwide peaked at nearly 24,000 in 2004. The problem got so bad that restrictions were placed on the sale of cold and allergy pills containing pseudoephedrine, which gets mixed with household products like lighter fluid or drain cleaner to make homemade meth. Those medications were placed behind the counter, with buying limits and tracking of sales.
By 2007, fewer than 7,000 meth labs were seized across the country. Makers and users responded by finding a way to make meth with fewer pills — a dangerous concoction typically mixed in a 2-liter soda bottle. This “one-pot” or “shake-and-bake” method led to more people making the drug and a corresponding spike in busts, with the national total back above 15,000 in 2010.
Laws got even tougher. Oregon, Mississippi and some cities and counties in high-meth states began requiring a prescription to buy pills containing pseudoephedrine.
By last year, seizures had dropped to about 9,500, according to DEA statistics.
Seizing the opportunity provided by the tougher enforcement of homemade meth in the United States, Mexican cartels have turned to an old recipe known as P2P that first appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, experts said. It uses the organic compound phenylacetone — banned in the United States but obtainable in Mexico, the DEA said — rather than pseudoephedrine.
As a result, the purity of Mexican meth rose from 39 percent in 2007 to essentially 100 percent, Jim Shroba, special agent in charge of the DEA office in St. Louis, has said. Meanwhile, the price dropped by two-thirds.
Tennessee, which often has been No. 1 or No. 2 in seizures, is “seeing a significant influx in availability of Mexican meth,” said Tommy Farmer, director of the Tennessee Methamphetamine and Pharmaceutical Task Force.
Woodward said Oklahoma police commonly hear that users have accepted Mexican meth, once considered inferior to the homemade drug.
“And they don’t have to risk blowing up their lab or getting caught at a pharmacy,” he said.
For more than a decade in the early 2000s, Missouri was the national leader in meth lab seizures. But data from the Highway Patrol for the first six months of 2015 shows Missouri with 314 seizures, on pace for 628. That would be a big drop from the 1,045 seizures last year. Just three years ago, Missouri had more than 2,000 meth lab seizures.
A Cahokia man is suing a Walmart pharmacy and one of its pharmacists after they allegedly provided him with the wrong prescription.
Leroy Turner filed a complaint Aug. 25 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Wal-Mart Inc. and Christopher L. Hurtte, alleging negligence.
On Feb. 3, the complaint states, Turner brought a prescription for Cardura, a medication to treat high blood pressure, to the Cahokia Walmart pharmacy, where Hurtte instead provided him Warfarin, a blood thinner, without Turner’s consent or knowledge. Turner was not prescribed a blood thinner, the complaint states, and a blood thinner was actually contra-indicated when the patient has high blood pressure.
After taking Warfarin for several weeks, Turner called his doctor out of concern for his extreme fatigue and bruising on his arms, shoulders, back, and thighs. His doctor told him to “double up” on the medication, not knowing he was taking Warfarin by mistake.
Turner doubled up on the medication and experienced additional and increased symptoms for about a week before realizing he was taking the wrong medication.
The complaint alleges Walmart and Hurtte were negligent in providing Turner the wrong prescription. Turner seeks a judgment of $50,000 against each defendant, plus court costs.
He is represented by Belleville-based attorney Matthew J. Marlen PC.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 15-L-482
BRAZIL, Ind. (WTHI) – The Hoosier State ranks at the top of a new list, but it doesn’t come with any bragging rights.
Pharmacy robberies are rising nationwide as the prescription drug epidemic increases, and Indiana leads the U.S. in these crimes.
Being tucked in the small community of Brazil is a luxury that makes working at Lynn’s Pharmacy relatively safe, but “it’s still scary when you come to work,” said Owner Lynn Hostetler.
The pharmacy has never been robbed at gunpoint, but Hostetler said they have been the victim of a couple burglaries, with the last one being nearly seven years ago.
“It’s always the case with drugs, because if you got money or drugs you always have to be careful.”
Hostetler said robberies were common in the seventies until the FBI began investigating those robberies, “that’s when they declined tremendously.”
In recent years, Indiana has cracked down on doctors overprescribing prescription narcotics, shutting down several so-called “pill mills.” In addition, the statewide database Inspect aims to identify patients filling multiple prescriptions for narcotics, who could then be diverting those pills.
These efforts, although positive, may have inadvertently fueled robberies
“There are less physicians writing prescriptions, so I believe they rob the drug stores to obtain the narcotics for sale not for use,” said Hostetler.
Lynn’s Pharmacy has spent more than $20,000 on security. From cameras, and alarms, to dispensing narcotics amongst other drugs that are not arranged in alphabetical order, “all kind of things I don’t want to talk about on TV,” said Hostetler.
All precautions that Hostetler said he has to take to keep his employees and his patrons safe as some criminals are turning to extreme measures
“They are parts of gangs and they use young people to come in, because if they are under age you don’t get sent off to federal prison.”
In a drug dependent society, Hostetler said he’s uncertain if there’s anything more the state could do to cut back on robberies. “Until we get rid of our problems by letting each individual be productive, responsible citizens I don’t think we’re going to see anything get better.”
More than 130 Indiana pharmacies have reported robberies since the start of 2015, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which tracks any incident in which prescription drugs are lost.
To counter such thefts, CVS/pharmacy announced last week that it has installed time-delay safes in more than 150 stores in the Indianapolis metro area to deter would-be robbers.
Such thieves like to get in and out of a store as quickly as possible, but time-delay safes require pharmacy employees to enter a code and then wait for a period of time before a safe will open.
Walgreens, which also has the safes in a number of its stores in other states, installed them in Indiana last year, too.
This is the state of WASHINGTON… where it is mandated that METHADONE is drug of choice for Medicaid pts and it is well known that every 1000 pts, in Washington ,started on Methadone on average … 2 pts will die within a few weeks. Because prescribers are FORCED to prescribe this medication and the are not well versed on its potential lethal idiosyncrasies. But is save the state money and was apparently mandated by some “pencil pusher” with a spread sheet.
The Marysville family doctor, accused of overmedicating patients, has 20 days to reply to charges by the Washington State Department of Health. Section Sponsor By Jennifer Sullivan Seattle Times staff reporter
The state has suspended the medical license of a Marysville family doctor accused of overmedicating patients, which authorities attribute to the deaths of two people.
About half of the patients Dr. Ann C. Kammeyer saw in her family practice were people in need of help with pain management, according to the state Department of Health. After the deaths of two patients this year, the state and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating Kammeyer.
On Sept. 1, the health department charged her with “unprofessional conduct by improperly prescribing opioid medication to numerous patients.” Her medical license, issued in 1981, was immediately suspended.
According to the statement of health-department charges: “The evidence shows a pattern of incompetence and negligence which created an unreasonable risk of harm and/or the deaths of three individuals, two of whom were her patients.”
Kammeyer has 20 days from the charging date to respond, said department spokeswoman Kelly Stowe.
“She has the right to tell her side of the story,” Stowe said.
Kammeyer, 65, could not be reached Friday. Her office phone went unanswered and a voice-mail box was full.
Kammeyer has not been charged with a crime.
According to the health department, complaints were filed against Kammeyer in 1989, 1997, twice in 1998, 2001 and in 2009. All of the complaints were closed without discipline, agency officials said.
The charges, signed by Assistant Attorney General Kristin G. Brewer and Melanie de Leon, executive director of the state Medical Quality Commission, say Kammeyer is not a pain-management specialist and is “wholly unqualified” to run a pain-management practice.
After investigating the records of the two women who died, one Feb. 10 and the other March 22, as well as looking at the records of another 10 patients, investigators concluded Kammeyer was improperly prescribing oxycodone, OxyContin, methadone, Valium, Xanax and Ativan. In many cases patients were taking lethal combinations of narcotics, the charges said.
The DEA started a separate undercover investigation into Kammeyer, using an employee of hers to write a prescription for someone she had never seen or met, according to the Department of Health.
DEA spokeswoman Jodi Underwood said Kammeyer “is the subject of an ongoing DEA investigation.” Underwood declined to comment any further.
The patient who died March 22 is referred to in the health-department charges as “Patient A.” She had a lethal combination of fentanyl, oxycodone and oxymorphone in her system — all medications prescribed by Kammeyer for chronic-pain management, fibromyalgia and mental illness, according to the charges. While the woman’s chart notes appear to have ended on Dec. 22, 2014, Kammeyer continued to prescribe her medication until March 12, charges said.
The woman who died Feb. 10, labeled “Patient B,” had a combination of alprazolam, oxycodone, ethanol, cannabis-related products and opiates in her system, according to the Department of Health. Kammeyer was treating the woman for chronic-pain syndrome, mental-health issues, hypertension and a “host of other illnesses,” charging documents said.
In addition to her two patients, the health-department charging documents allege Kammeyer contributed to the death of a third person, an adult grandson of “Patient A.” One of the woman’s fentanyl pain patches was found in his mouth.
STAMFORD, Conn. — Purdue Pharma this week announced that it had VM902A, acquired an allosteric selective tropmyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) inhibitor, from VM Pharma. TrkA inhibitors are part of a growing class of pain management therapies. VM902A has been tested in Phase I clinical trials, and Purdue plans to continue trials, with Phase II enrollment opening in early 2016.
“As leaders in the pain market, Purdue Pharma’s proven expertise in developing and commercializing therapies for pain, makes them the ideal company to advance the work of the VM Pharma team,” said Jay Wu, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, VM Pharma LLC. “I have confidence they will take this TrKA program forward to develop innovative pain management therapies.”
Under the agreement, VM Pharma received an upfront payment, which when combined with development, regulatory and commercial development payments could end up totaling $213 million.
Purdue sees a lot of potential in the new acquisition.
“The TrKA mechanism and VM-902A specifically hold great promise in treating pain,” Purdue president and CEO Mark Timney said. “This acquisition expands and diversifies our pipeline by adding a potentially innovative non-opioid, non-NSAID treatment to our portfolio.”
Flood damage is a devastating event, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. While the immediate damage – ruined furniture and soaked carpets – is readily apparent, the hidden threat of mold growth can pose serious health risks and long-term structural problems for your home.
Flood Fury: The Perfect Breeding Ground for Mold
Floodwater is more than just an inconvenience. It can be contaminated with sewage, bacteria, and chemicals, posing a health hazard. Additionally, standing water quickly saturates building materials like drywall, wood, and insulation, creating the perfect breeding ground for mold.
Mold thrives in damp environments, and within 24-48 hours of floodwater exposure, spores can begin to germinate. These spores, invisible to the naked eye, can easily become airborne and inhaled, leading to a variety of health problems.
Dr. Sarah Jones, a pulmonologist, warns, “Exposure to mold spores can trigger a range of respiratory issues, especially for vulnerable individuals like children, the elderly, and those with asthma or allergies. Symptoms can range from coughing and wheezing to difficulty breathing.”
Mold Mayhem: A Spectrum of Health Risks
Exposure to mold can have a wide range of negative health impacts beyond respiratory problems. Here’s a closer look:
Skin and Eye Irritation: Mold spores can irritate the skin, causing itching, redness, and rashes. Similarly, exposure can irritate the eyes, leading to redness, watering, and burning.
Headaches and Fatigue: Mold exposure has been linked to headaches, dizziness, and overall fatigue. These symptoms can be debilitating and impact your daily life.
More Serious Concerns: In severe cases, long-term mold exposure can lead to neurological problems and even a weakened immune system.
Why DIY Mold Removal is a Risky Gamble
While small mold patches might seem like a manageable DIY project, the reality is more complex. Mold remediation requires specialized knowledge, equipment, and safety protocols. Here’s why contacting an expert is crucial:
Identifying the Threat: Different mold species exist, and some are more toxic than others. An expert can accurately identify the type of mold present and determine the best course of action.
Containment is Key: Mold remediation requires containment measures to prevent spores from spreading throughout the house. Professionals have the necessary equipment and expertise to isolate the affected area effectively.
Safe Removal Techniques: Removing mold safely involves specific techniques and protective gear. Improper removal can stir up spores, worsening the problem.
Addressing the Root Cause: Mold thrives in damp environments. An expert will not only remove the mold but also identify and address the source of moisture to prevent future growth.
Post-Remediation Verification: After removal, experts can test the air quality to ensure complete mold eradication, providing you with peace of mind.
Don’t Risk Your Health or Your Home
As Dr. Jones emphasizes, “Mold remediation is an investment in your health and the well-being of your family. Ignoring mold growth can lead to expensive repairs down the line as the mold damages building materials.” By contacting a certified mold remediation Property development and restoration professional , you can ensure a safe, thorough, and lasting solution that protects both your health and your home. Don’t wait until a minor mold patch becomes a major health hazard. Take action today and breathe easy knowing your home is a safe haven, not a breeding ground for mold.
If you are losing the war… isn’t it best to retreat, surrender or change the plan(s) ? How many wars continue to be fought as the bodies keep piling up and the more bodies that pile up.. the more those declaring the war want to continue fighting.. It is almost like they relish at the mounting body count !
CVS and others have begun using time-delay safes and other measures to curb snatch-and-run prescription drug thefts.
Pharmacy robberies are rising nationwide as the prescription drug epidemic increases, and Indiana has the unwelcome distinction of leading the U.S. in these crimes.
More than 130 Indiana pharmacies have reported robberies since the start of 2015, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which tracks any incident in which prescription drugs are lost, said Greg Westfall, assistant special agent in charge in Indianapolis.
The Indiana Board of Pharmacy cites an even higher number, calculating a total of 151 robberies since the beginning of the year, said Ted Cotterill, the board’s director. Robbery attempts aren’t included in that figure.
Indianapolis alone has had more 130 pharmacy robberies, including attempts, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Although the numbers may differ, all agree that this year, Indiana has had more pharmacy robberies than any other state.
“This puts us at number one in the country at the moment, which is not the kind of number one that Indiana wants to be in any category,” Cotterill said.
To counter such thefts, CVS/pharmacy announced last week that it has installed time-delay safes in more than 150 stores in the Indianapolis metro area to deter would-be robbers.
Such thieves like to get in and out of a store as quickly as possible, but time-delay safes require pharmacy employees to enter a code and then for a period of time before a safe will open.
No other CVS market in the nation has time-delay safes, Michael DeAngelis, a CVS/pharmacy spokesman said in an email.
“After completing our study of time-delay safes this summer, we determined that now was the appropriate time to implement them in our Indianapolis stores,” DeAngelis said.
Walgreens, which also has the safes in a number of its stores in other states, installed them in Indiana last year, too.
While many hope that the time-delay safes can help turn around the pharmacy robbery rate, they shed no light on why these crimes are so prevalent in Indiana, a question many in the field have been asking for some time now.
“If I had the answer, I would tell you right now,” Cotterill said. Later this fall, the Indiana Board of Pharmacy plans to hold a roundtable with pharmacists and law enforcement experts to explore the question further and potentially arrive at some solutions.
Earlier this month, Gov. Mike Pence announced the creation of a task force specifically to address prescription drug abuse and heroin use.
But Indiana is far from alone. Many other states also are also battling such problems.
So why have pharmacy robberies skyrocketed here?
“It is kind of baffling,” said Todd Meyer, prosecuting attorney for Boone County, which has seen a number of major pharmacy robberies in recent months.
In recent years, Indiana also has cracked down on doctors overprescribing prescription narcotics, shutting down several so-called “pill mills.” In addition, the statewide database Inspect aims to identify patients filling multiple prescriptions for narcotics, who could then be diverting those pills.
These efforts, although positive, may have inadvertently fueled robberies, Cotterill said.
“While we have tightened the grip on prescribing and dispensing, we may have just driven that traffic elsewhere,” he said.
Another factor may have to do with the state’s penalty for juvenile offenders, those in law enforcement say. Many of the robberies have involved juveniles, in some cases, as young as 13.
If they get caught, the sentences they face likely will not be as harsh as for adults, said Patricia Baldwin, a prosecuting attorney for Hendricks County, where many Rockville Road pharmacies have been hit. Depending on the circumstances, they could get probation or a suspended commitment.
“The juveniles assume not much will happen,” Baldwin said. “If you can walk in and walk out with something that’s worth a lot of money, a lot of people take advantage of something like that.”
Pharmacy robberies have been going on in the state for almost a decade, says Ken Fagerman, author of the book “Staring Down the Barrel.” The former South Bend pharmacist recalled how his community organized to fight back with efforts such as a pharmacy crime watch.
Other measures that could help prevent such robberies include installing panic buttons in every pharmacy to allow employees to contact police immediately and alert other nearby stores to be on the alert. In one instance, four pharmacies close to one another were robbed within a matter of hours.
Implementing such initiatives would help empower pharmacists, Fagerman said.
“Because pharmacists are intimidated or practicing in fear, sometimes they do not question or defend the prescription drug supply the way they should,” he said. “This criminal element has been accustomed to this passivity and being issued anything they want on demand and getting away with it. … When you allow this situation to get out of hand which it has, it’s a self-perpetuating system.”
No one disputes that in Indiana, pharmacy robberies have gotten out of hand.
In the past year, the commercial robbery unit of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has focused almost entirely on pharmacy robberies, Lt. Craig McCartt said.
A few years ago, most of these robberies were conducted by people who were addicted to the drugs they were stealing. More recently, though, the bulk of the robberies have been committed by people who plan on selling the ill-gotten goods, McCartt said.
In many cases, the robber hands the pharmacy employee a note with a list of narcotics he is seeking. The note may imply that the robber has a weapon but rarely does he reveal it.
In some cases, adults approach youths and recruit them for such crimes, McCartt said. In other cases, the juveniles act on their own and wind up selling whatever prescription drugs that they steal.
“I think that the word spread at the high schools, through social media, that this was an easy source of money and everybody started doing it,” he said. “As we arrest these guys, there’s somebody right there to take their place immediately.”
The criminals also have not restricted their activity to Indianapolis city limits. Both Boone and Hendricks counties have seen a number of pharmacy robberies as well.
In many cases, the criminals have ties to Indianapolis gangs, Meyer said.
“All of us in the doughnut counties are kind of susceptible,” he said.
But at the end of the day, even the police say they do not know what’s driving the high number of robberies in this state.
“I wish I knew exactly,” McCartt said. “Honestly I think it could be any other city, any other state in the nation truly, but we just have misfortune of it being here.”
Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.
Eighteen months after the introduction of Zohydro, there is little evidence the controversial painkiller is being abused or diverted, according to a new report from a nationwide drug monitoring program.
The report covered the first quarter of 2015. RADARS monitors hundreds of hospitals, poison control centers and addiction treatment clinics in the U.S. to track the abuse, misuse and diversion of prescription drugs.
“Everyone thought this was going to be some horrible, horrible thing. And it didn’t materialize that way,” said Errol Gould, PhD, Director of Medical Affairs for Pernix Therapeutics, which bought the rights to Zohydro from Zogenix Inc. earlier this year.
“There have been very few reports of people checking into treatment centers and reporting Zohydro ER as the drug they were abusing. In the past 18 months I can tell you there have been less than 40.”
There was a storm of controversy surrounding Zohydro when it was first introduced in March 2014. The first single ingredient hydrocodone painkiller sold in the U.S. was approved by the Food and Drug Administration over the objections of its staff and an advisory committee — which warned there was a potential for Zohydro to be abused even more than other hydrocodone products.
Addiction treatment experts also predicted Zohydro would fuel a new wave of painkiller addiction and overdoses. The Governor of Massachusetts even declared a state of emergency and tried unsuccessfully to ban Zohydro sales in his state.
“All the media attention sort of scared people, so there weren’t a lot of prescriptions written in the beginning,” said Gould. “But now over time the prescription rate has picked up. But we’re still not seeing diversion. The abusers already know what hydrocodone is like and they’re not going out and looking for Zohydro when they can get other things that are more readily available to them.”
Only about 1,600 prescriptions are being written for Zohydro each week, a tiny fraction of the 130 million hydrocodone prescriptions that are filled each year in the U.S. Prescribing of Zohydro is also closely monitored to keep it away from pain patients who might misuse or abuse it.
“I think the growth has been slow. Most of that has been because of the prior perceptions. We fully expect that to change over time. It just takes time to change people’s views and minds. We’ve had a bit of an uphill battle,” said Doug Drysdale, President and CEO of Pernix. “The good news here from RADARS is that the product is not being abused. And I think that’s very encouraging.”
The biggest problem faced by Pernix going forward may not be the hysteria over Zohydro’s introduction — but competition from rival drug makers.
Purdue Pharma has introduced its own “pure” hydrocodone product — sold under the brand name Hysingla ER. Hysingla is designed to be taken once a day, while Zohydro is meant to be taken twice daily for chronic pain. Both products are sold in abuse deterrent formulas that make them harder for drug abusers to snort or inject.
Until the introduction of Zohydro, most hydrocodone products on the market were combined with acetaminophen, which at high doses can cause liver damage. Hydrocodone combination drugs such as Vicodin, Lortab and Lorcet are the most commonly prescribed and abused painkillers in the U.S. In 2014 hydrocodone was reclassified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule II medication to make it harder to obtain.
