{"id":8059,"date":"2020-02-11T14:01:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/walgreens-in-hot-water-over-phony-pharmacist\/"},"modified":"2020-02-11T14:01:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T19:01:03","slug":"walgreens-in-hot-water-over-phony-pharmacist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/article\/walgreens-in-hot-water-over-phony-pharmacist\/","title":{"rendered":"Walgreen\u2019s in Hot Water Over Phony Pharmacist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The drugstore chain agreed to pay $7.5 million<\/a><\/u> in fines after an unlicensed pharmacist at several San Francisco Bay locations illegally filled more than 700,000 prescriptions over a ten-year period.<\/p>\n

According to California prosecutors, Kim Thien Le stole license numbers from other pharmacists to fill prescriptions for Fentanyl, morphine, and other painkillers<\/a><\/u>.<\/p>\n

Le pleaded guilty to multiple felony impersonation counts.<\/p>\n

Walgreen\u2019s agreed to the settlement to avoid being charged with consumer fraud in Alameda and Santa Anna Counties.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged that Walgreen\u2019s failed to verify Le\u2019s license and did not conduct a thorough background check.<\/p>\n

The company insisted it has taken remedial measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cPharmacy quality and safety are top priorities, and upon learning of this issue, we undertook a re-verification of the licenses of all our pharmacists nationwide,\u201d officials stated in a news release.<\/p>\n

The Opioid Epidemic<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Doctors habitually prescribe powerful opioids, such as Fentanyl and Oxycintin, to patients who experienced even minor, short-term pain.<\/p>\n

Probably as a result of overprescription, almost a third<\/a><\/u> of these patients develop opioid addictions.<\/p>\n

This crisis may have been several decades in the making.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, a short letter appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine.<\/p>\n

A group of doctors erroneously claimed that opioids were not addictive if the patient had no medical history of drug abuse.<\/p>\n

Roughly ten years later, the government began allowing drug manufacturers to market their wares directly to the public.<\/p>\n

In 2017, there were over 190 million opioid prescriptions in the United States.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an average of fifty-nine prescriptions for every one hundred Americans.<\/p>\n

In certain geographic areas, the opioid prescription rate is up to seven times higher than the national average.<\/p>\n

Your Claim for Damages<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If your loved one was among the millions of opioid abuse victims, you have legal options, beginning with the opioid manufacturer.<\/p>\n

Drug companies are strictly liable for injuries which their dangerous products caused.<\/p>\n

There is evidence that Perdue Pharma and other drug makers knew their products were dangerously addictive.<\/p>\n

Yet for many years, these manufacturers were in an arms race. Each wanted to develop a stronger opioid than its competitors.<\/p>\n

In unlicensed pharmacist cases, like the one described above, the negligent supervision doctrine often comes into play. This legal rule holds employers liable for damages if:<\/p>\n