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Nevada News: Does a Prescription Die With the Physician?
Reprinted from the July 2006 Nevada State Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.
Occasionally a pharmacist will be asked to fill or refill a prescription that was written by a physician who has since passed away, retired, or moved out of the community or has had their license suspended or revoked. Can this request be honored? In short, the answer is no. Food and Drug Administration recognizes that a prescription given to a patient by a practitioner has an established physician/patient relationship. Once this relationship is severed, the prescription loses its validity since the practitioner is no longer available to oversee the use of the prescribed drug.
Having said that, as in so many circumstances that pharmacists face every day, the use of professional judgment to take care of the patient in a reasonable manner is prudent practice. In this spirit, the pharmacist may need to exert a bit more effort to help the patient. Examples would be calling the old office to see where the patient records have been moved, calling to see if another physician has taken over the patient records, helping the patient get an appointment with another physician, or asking the new physician to authorize an interim supply. In most cases (controlled substances being the exception) the pharmacist may provide an interim supply of maintenance medication to allow the patient time to reestablish with another physician. Nevada State Board of Pharmacy staff feels that a 30-day supply is reasonable
