Las Vegas Rite Aid pharmacist’s actions under board scrutiny

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2000 | 3:21 a.m.

The Nevada State Board of Pharmacy is accusing a Rite Aid pharmacist of professional misconduct in the death of a vacationing Texas woman.

Veneda Cook, 64, of the east Texas town of Pittsburg, died of a brain hemorrhage while visiting her daughter Las Vegas last October. The pharmacy board alleges a local pharmacist erroneously doubled the strength of Cook's blood-thinning prescription medication.

Dr. Seema Anjum, the Desert Springs Hospital physician who treated Cook and signed the death certificate, said Cook died from an overdose of the blood-thinning medication, Coumadin.

The board is accusing Rite Aid managing pharmacist Leona Sopko of failing to provide the proper Coumadin dose, failing to notify the woman of the prescription change, failing to check with the woman's Texas physician before increasing the potency of the pills, and mislabeling the medication.

The Rite Aid pharmacy on the city's southeast side where the violations are alleged to have occurred faces disciplinary action.

A Rite Aid spokeswoman declined comment except to say that Sopko has an unblemished record with the company. A response filed by company lawyers denies many of the allegations and says the dosage provided was what had been ordered.

At the scheduled Oct. 25 hearing, the board can dismiss the charges or issue disciplinary actions ranging from fines and suspensions to revoking the pharmacist's license or closing the store.

Cook's husband, Bill, had several prescriptions filled for Cook at the Rite Aid pharmacy while the couple were on an extended visit, said Veneda Cook's daughter, Mary Hosea.

On Oct. 5, 1999, Sopko filled Cook's 2.5 milligram Coumadin prescription with 5 milligram pills because Rite Aid was out of stock of the correct amount, said the pharmacy board's general counsel, Louis Ling.

The pharmacist failed to properly counsel the husband who picked up the drugs that day and he had no way of knowing he was giving his wife too much blood thinner, Ling said.

The defense response, filed on behalf of Rite Aid and Sopko by attorneys Michael Dyer and Louis Holland, says that Sopko denies the allegation that she did not counsel Bill Cook.

Ling said this is the first complaint against Sopko and the Windmill Lane Rite Aid pharmacy. The complaint was filed by Cook's husband and investigated by the board of pharmacy.

"The only other death case in the history of the board was in the mid-'80s," Ling said. "Thank God in this state, it's rare. I've never had a death case and I've represented the board for almost nine years."