 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Hayward v. Jack's Pharmacy Incorporated6/15/2005
lity-not an ordinary hospital or physician's office. The parties agree that nursing homes are required to follow federal and state guidelines relating to patient care, including the prescription of pharmaceuticals, and that they are responsible when those standards are not met. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 1396r; 42 C.F.R. §§ 483.25, 483.60; Idaho Admin. Code sec. 16.03.02.154.01.c. Therefore, it follows that the standard of care for a physician treating a patient in a nursing home would be governed by those standards.
The alternative makes no sense: if a non-medical director physician treating a patient in a nursing home does not meet the standard to which the facility is held, or follows a lesser, local community standard, the nursing home as a facility has failed to meet the standard it is required to meet. To allow this result would thwart the purpose of the state or federal regulation-hence our rule that in cases where state or federal laws or regulations set forth minimum requirements for licensure of health care providers local communities are not free to adopt lower standards.
See, e.g., Grover v. Smith, 137 Idaho at 252, 46 P.3d at 1110 (taking patient's medical history is a minimum requirement necessary to become licensed dentist in Idaho; local community may not adopt a local standard below licensing requirements). Accordingly, we believe the rationale in Grover applies in this case: a physician treating a patient in a nursing facility is not free to adopt a standard of care lower than that required of the nursing home in which the provider works. If the physician is functioning both as treating physician and as medical director of the facility, his or her standard of care includes the minimum standards set by applicable state and federal law.
B. Hayward's Pharmacy Expert was Competent to Testify About the Standard of Care Applicable to Jack's Pharmacy
The district court ruled that Hayward's pharmacy expert failed to properly establish the standard of care applicable to Jack's Pharmacy. Hayward contends this ruling is in error and we agree.
Hayward offered the deposition testimony and affidavit of one Rex Lott, a pharmacist licensed in Washington (but not Idaho), who works for the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Boise. Lott holds a doctorate in pharmacy. He is an instructor of pharmacy at Idaho State University and has worked with nursing homes. To familiarize himself with the standard of care in St. Maries, he reviewed Delbert's medical records and the depositions of Jack Botts and Chad Brown, pharmacists at Jack's Pharmacy. He also contacted one Marvin Wheeler, who had worked as a pharmacist in St. Maries until 1992, when he began working on a fill-in or temporary basis.
Based on his review of Botts' and Brown's depositions and his discussion with Wheeler, Lott offered the following explanation of the standard of care:
he standards identified by Chad Brown and Jack Botts in their depositions are no different from the standards that I discussed with Marvin Wheeler . . . My opinion is that, with respect to a retail pharmacist in St. Maries, Idaho, at the time, the principal standard of care was 'start low, go slow' in the dispensing or dosing of Haldol. A pharmacist has a duty to intervene when the 'start low, go slow' dosing for Haldol is not followed, such as with Delbert Hayward on March 18, 1994, when Mr. Hayward's orders for Haldol were increased from one-half milligram a day to a potential of well over 24 milligrams a day.
The "start low, go slow" standard is not disputed. Lott stated further that under state regulations, pharmacists are "required to look at each drug order with a prospective vie
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Idaho Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|