Pharmacists' legal dilemma: to warn, or not to warn?

Drug Store News, Feb 20, 1989 by Barbara White

"All of the excuses for not consulting don't wash," he said. "People pay you and they are entitled to the best treatment. The duties of pharmacy have been expanded and pharmacists must respond to that."

Our service is based on knowledge rather than a product," said Bob Gude, an independent pharmacist and past president of the Texas Pharmaceutical Association. "The need for counseling is greater now that Medicine has become more sophisticated."

"Yes, I think most pharmacists are afraid of the liability, but the profession is threatened enough so that they are more willing," Gude said. "The liability question deals with how you can serve your customer best. If I fill a prescription for a Spanish-speaking individual, even if I write the instructions in Spanish, and I can't speak Spanish to counsel, maybe I shouldn't be filling that prescription."

If pharmacists want to be more to their customers than a retail outlet, according to Wyatt Williams, director of pharmaceuticals for Harco, a 90-store chain headquartered in Alabama, they need to face the consulting and the liability issue.

"We can't want to have the privilege while ducking the responsibility," he said. "If we do, the customer might as well go to a vending machine."