Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009 | 5:26 p.m.
CARSON CITY — In a split decision, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that pharmacies are not responsible for their customers injuring somebody else while under the influence of prescription drugs.
“Pharmacies do not have a duty to act to prevent a pharmacy customer from injuring an unidentified third party,” the court said in a 5-2 decision.
It upheld the ruling of District Judge Douglas Herndon, who dismissed a suit filed against seven Las Vegas pharmacies by survivors of a man killed in an auto accident and by a man who was injured and his wife.
In June 2004, Patricia Copening was driving on U.S. 95 in Las Vegas when she ran into a vehicle on the side of the road as Gregory Sanchez Jr. and Robert Martinez were fixing a flat tire. Sanchez died and Martinez was seriously injured.
Copening was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of controlled substances. A civil suit was filed against Copening, two doctors and a medical association.
During discovery in the suit, it was revealed that the Prescription Controlled Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force sent letters to pharmacies informing them that Copening had obtained about 4,500 hydrocodone pills — a narcotic pain killer — during a 12 month period in 2003 from the pharmacies.
The suit was amended to include the pharmacies, alleging that the drug stores had filled Copening’s prescription after receiving the notice from the task force.
The majority decision, written by Chief Justice James Hardesty, said there is nothing in the law “to require pharmacies to take action to protect the general public after receiving a task force letter.”
The law requires pharmacies to create computer programs to track controlled substances they are filling. This law “did not intend to create a policy that requires pharmacies to protect third parties from a pharmacy customer’s action.”
Hardesty said there is no allegation that there were irregularities in filling the prescriptions.
Justices Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta dissented, saying the case should return to District Court.
Cherry said the pharmacies owed a duty of care to the survivors to investigate the validity of Copening’s prescriptions and to refuse to fill them, if warranted.
He suggested the letter from the task force justified a common-law negligence suit against the pharmacies.
Sanchez’s minor daughters and his widow filed a wrongful death suit, and Martinez and his wife filed a personal injury complaint.
The suits were brought against Wal-Mart, Longs, Walgreen, CVS, Rite-Aid, Sav-On and Lam’s.
Still pending in District Court is the suit against Copening.
Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687 5032 or [email protected]
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