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Why is Rite Aid responsible opioid lawsuits though? They're just carrying out the lawful orders from the government, lawmakers, and big-pharma. Are drug stores

by 1-6 3y ago

Why is Rite Aid responsible opioid lawsuits though? They're just carrying out the lawful orders from the government, lawmakers, and big-pharma. Are drug stores now responsible for doing their own screening on products? I wonder what will happen to dispensaries once companies like Rite Aid are allowed to crumble.

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stevehawk 3y ago
the claim in the lawsuits has been that the pharmacies should have recognized "red flags" on prescriptions, such as pill count or refill frequency.
- 1-6 3y ago
  Perhaps we're dealing with a situation where the hindsight is clearer than activity in the moment. Not defending Rite Aid but when a drug prescribed by a doctor flows into the system, that's fulfillment of an order to me and I'm not going to go through every medical record to find out whether or not the drug prescribed is valid or not.
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    Yeah. Except you legally have to. Not every doctor can prescribe every medication.
  - duskwuff 3y ago
    It is literally the job of a pharmacist to use their own best judgement when deciding whether to fill prescriptions. That's why you need a Pharm.D to work in that position; if they were just counting pills, they wouldn't need that level of training.
- rented_mule 3y ago
  One widely reported macro red flag... in Trumbull County, Ohio, over the course of four years, an average of 400 painkiller pills for each resident of the county were dispensed by the pharmacies operating in that county. 80 million pills in a county of 200,000 people. Lake County, Ohio had 61 million pills dispensed in that period with a little over 200,000 people living there. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/judge-says-pharmacies-owe-2-ohio-counties-650-million-in-opioids-suit https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/judge-says-pharmacies-o...
mkmk 3y ago
It's less about carrying out their own personal screening on products, as much as not following the rules of what types of prescriptions you can fill for controlled substances. "“We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid’s stores.” <snip> The government’s complaint alleges that, from May 2014 through June 2019, Rite Aid knowingly filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not for a medically accepted indication, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice. These unlawful prescriptions included, for example, prescriptions for the dangerous and highly abused combination of drugs known as “the trinity,” prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids, such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and prescriptions issued by prescribers whom Rite Aid pharmacists had repeatedly identified internally as writing illegitimate prescriptions. The government alleges that Rite Aid pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear “red flags” that were highly indicative that the prescriptions were unlawful. The government further alleges that Rite Aid not only ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, including from certain pharmacists, its distributor, and its own internal data, but compounded its failure to act by intentionally deleting internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by Rite Aid pharmacists and directing district managers to tell pharmacists “to be mindful of everything that is put in writing.” By knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, the government alleges that Rite Aid violated the CSA and, where Rite Aid sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs, also violated the FCA." Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-complaint-alleging-rite-aid-dispensed-controlled-substances https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-com...
- 1-6 3y ago
  Are pharmacists also responsible?
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KennyBlanken 3y ago
They were sued for selling opioids to people with prescriptions the chain knew (not 'should have known' - knew) were fraudulent, and the damages that caused. To individuals and communities, for example. The DoJ said they violated two acts in doing so: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-complaint-alleging-rite-aid-dispensed-controlled-substances https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-com... Why did they do it? Because like everyone else involved: there were big profits to be made. Rite-Aid is the first pharmacy to file for bankrupcy but several drugmakers have already done so. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/16/1206256476/rite-aid-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-deluge-of-opioid-lawsuits https://www.npr.org/2023/10/16/1206256476/rite-aid-files-for... > The latest data from the centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 112,000 drug deaths in the latest 12-month period here in the U.S. It's the highest toll of fatal overdoses ever. The big culprit now is street fentanyl, the synthetic opioid produced by the Mexican drug cartels. But it's important to say the U.S. medical industry is still prescribing vastly more pain pills than other countries. Those medications are still killing a lot of Americans - nearly 17,000 fatal overdoses from prescription pills every year. In suing Rite Aid earlier this year, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement saying the Justice Department plans to hold companies accountable for the opioid epidemic that's killing Americans.
lokar 3y ago
The ability to sell these controlled substances is not a right. They must adhere to strict government rules and oversight. They (and others) knowingly turned a blind eye to systematic abuse since it made them lots of money.
mindslight 3y ago
It's called being a scapegoat. Rather than treating drug abuse as a public health problem, the prevailing narrative is to just demonize the sources - liberty, and in this case healthcare, be damned. Here it will result in another chilling effect "nobody's fault" corporate-authoritarian regime like banking surveillance in the name of money laundering. A "private decision" has been made that you don't deserve the healthcare you claim you need, and that decision has been shared between all "private" actors so you have no actual alternative. A functioning government would actually prosecute this type of collusion under straightforward anti-trust grounds, but here it is encouraging it. Power coalesces, and such a regime is basically inevitable at this point with the foundations that have already been laid. Meaning the only ways to fix it are either to route around the whole dumpster fire (eg Silk Road) or absorb it into the government fully so there's no playing coy with the constructive reality and it can actually be litigated for the human rights violation it is.

by 1-6 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

stevehawk 3y ago

the claim in the lawsuits has been that the pharmacies should have recognized "red flags" on prescriptions, such as pill count or refill frequency.

1-6 3y ago
Perhaps we're dealing with a situation where the hindsight is clearer than activity in the moment. Not defending Rite Aid but when a drug prescribed by a doctor flows into the system, that's fulfillment of an order to me and I'm not going to go through every medical record to find out whether or not the drug prescribed is valid or not.
- aaomidi 3y ago
  Yeah. Except you legally have to. Not every doctor can prescribe every medication.
- duskwuff 3y ago
  It is literally the job of a pharmacist to use their own best judgement when deciding whether to fill prescriptions. That's why you need a Pharm.D to work in that position; if they were just counting pills, they wouldn't need that level of training.
rented_mule 3y ago
One widely reported macro red flag... in Trumbull County, Ohio, over the course of four years, an average of 400 painkiller pills for each resident of the county were dispensed by the pharmacies operating in that county. 80 million pills in a county of 200,000 people. Lake County, Ohio had 61 million pills dispensed in that period with a little over 200,000 people living there. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/judge-says-pharmacies-owe-2-ohio-counties-650-million-in-opioids-suit https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/judge-says-pharmacies-o...

mkmk 3y ago

It's less about carrying out their own personal screening on products, as much as not following the rules of what types of prescriptions you can fill for controlled substances. "“We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid’s stores.” <snip> The government’s complaint alleges that, from May 2014 through June 2019, Rite Aid knowingly filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not for a medically accepted indication, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice. These unlawful prescriptions included, for example, prescriptions for the dangerous and highly abused combination of drugs known as “the trinity,” prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids, such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and prescriptions issued by prescribers whom Rite Aid pharmacists had repeatedly identified internally as writing illegitimate prescriptions. The government alleges that Rite Aid pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear “red flags” that were highly indicative that the prescriptions were unlawful. The government further alleges that Rite Aid not only ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, including from certain pharmacists, its distributor, and its own internal data, but compounded its failure to act by intentionally deleting internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by Rite Aid pharmacists and directing district managers to tell pharmacists “to be mindful of everything that is put in writing.” By knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, the government alleges that Rite Aid violated the CSA and, where Rite Aid sought reimbursement from federal healthcare programs, also violated the FCA." Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-complaint-alleging-rite-aid-dispensed-controlled-substances https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-com...

1-6 3y ago
Are pharmacists also responsible?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

KennyBlanken 3y ago

They were sued for selling opioids to people with prescriptions the chain knew (not 'should have known' - knew) were fraudulent, and the damages that caused. To individuals and communities, for example. The DoJ said they violated two acts in doing so: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-complaint-alleging-rite-aid-dispensed-controlled-substances https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/united-states-files-com... Why did they do it? Because like everyone else involved: there were big profits to be made. Rite-Aid is the first pharmacy to file for bankrupcy but several drugmakers have already done so. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/16/1206256476/rite-aid-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-deluge-of-opioid-lawsuits https://www.npr.org/2023/10/16/1206256476/rite-aid-files-for... > The latest data from the centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 112,000 drug deaths in the latest 12-month period here in the U.S. It's the highest toll of fatal overdoses ever. The big culprit now is street fentanyl, the synthetic opioid produced by the Mexican drug cartels. But it's important to say the U.S. medical industry is still prescribing vastly more pain pills than other countries. Those medications are still killing a lot of Americans - nearly 17,000 fatal overdoses from prescription pills every year. In suing Rite Aid earlier this year, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement saying the Justice Department plans to hold companies accountable for the opioid epidemic that's killing Americans.

lokar 3y ago

The ability to sell these controlled substances is not a right. They must adhere to strict government rules and oversight. They (and others) knowingly turned a blind eye to systematic abuse since it made them lots of money.

mindslight 3y ago

It's called being a scapegoat. Rather than treating drug abuse as a public health problem, the prevailing narrative is to just demonize the sources - liberty, and in this case healthcare, be damned. Here it will result in another chilling effect "nobody's fault" corporate-authoritarian regime like banking surveillance in the name of money laundering. A "private decision" has been made that you don't deserve the healthcare you claim you need, and that decision has been shared between all "private" actors so you have no actual alternative. A functioning government would actually prosecute this type of collusion under straightforward anti-trust grounds, but here it is encouraging it. Power coalesces, and such a regime is basically inevitable at this point with the foundations that have already been laid. Meaning the only ways to fix it are either to route around the whole dumpster fire (eg Silk Road) or absorb it into the government fully so there's no playing coy with the constructive reality and it can actually be litigated for the human rights violation it is.