Unlawful Prescribing or Dispensing

If you prescribe medications as a doctor or a physician’s assistant and know that the person doesn’t need the medication in one way or another, then you could be charged with unlawful prescribing. You could also be charged with unlawful dispensing of prescriptions if you fill those which aren’t legally written or if you make substitutions for prescriptions. An attorney can offer assistance if you have been charged with unlawful prescribing or dispensing. Most attorneys can represent doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other professionals which work in this field. The first thing that you would need to do is gather the details about the prescriptions that you are said to have dispensed or prescribed. You also need to get together any information about the original prescription if there was one given to a patient.

Who Can Investigate You

Attorneys can represent people who have been accused by the Department of Health as well as local agencies. Assistance can be given to those which are under investigation by the Medicaid or Medicare Fraud Unit as well as the Drug Enforcement Unit. If you have received any charges from any of these administrations or offices, then you should consider seeking the assistance of an attorney which can help with a defense in order to keep your license so that you can continue prescribing medications or so that you face a lighter sentence compared to what you might if you didn’t have the help of an attorney. It’s important to give all of the facts about the situation to your attorney. Especially if there’s a possibility that you have committed these acts.

Protecting Your Medical License

One of the things to keep in mind about this type of allegation is that your attorney can assist with issues regarding your license. There are other infractions which your attorney can help with as well that aren’t as severe and sometimes won’t impact your license as much as unlawful dispensing and prescribing. Your attorney can go before a healthcare agency in order to discuss the charges and the details of what happened leading up to the charges. Most of the time, someone investigates your practice or business for some time in order to get the evidence needed to file charges.

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Legal Scenario: What Would You Do?

Scenario

A pharmacist notices that a local physician has been writing unusually high volumes of oxycodone prescriptions for patients who all pay cash and travel long distances to the practice. After filling several of these prescriptions, the pharmacist receives a visit from DEA investigators who inform her she may face charges for knowingly dispensing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose.

Can I really be charged with unlawful dispensing even though I'm a pharmacist just filling a doctor's prescriptions?

Attorney's Answer

Yes, under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and DEA regulations, pharmacists have a corresponding responsibility to ensure that prescriptions are issued for a legitimate medical purpose before dispensing them. If red flags were present — such as cash-only payments, patients traveling unusual distances, or excessive quantities of controlled substances — and you continued to fill those prescriptions without questioning them, prosecutors can argue you knowingly participated in unlawful distribution. An experienced defense attorney can challenge the government's evidence of your knowledge and intent, and may argue that you relied in good faith on the prescribing physician's medical judgment. Early legal intervention is critical, as these cases often carry mandatory minimum sentences and the potential loss of your professional license.

This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.

How Your Attorney Can Help

Letters can be written about the business involving prescriptions and why these allegations could have been brought against you if there is no evidence. Attorneys can write letters for your support to show your intentions regarding prescriptions which were prescribed and dispensed. If you have had issues in the past with prescriptions, then your attorney can represent you with these charges as well so that they won’t impact the decisions made if other allegations are made. While talking to your attorney about your profession, you can discuss applying for a DEA number and what you need to do with that number once it’s obtained. You can be represented if you’ve been charged with prescribing more medications than what was originally on the order. Or prescribing narcotics when they are not needed or to those which don’t have the proper documents to get them.