You are here: / / PHARMACIST’S DUTY OF CARE CLEARLY ARTICULATED AFTER IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS;...
,

PHARMACIST’S DUTY OF CARE CLEARLY ARTICULATED AFTER IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS; SUMMARY JUDGMENT DISMISSING THE NEGLIGENCE/WRONGFUL DEATH CAUSES OF ACTION AGAINST THE PHARMACIST AND PHARMACY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED.

The Second Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Miller, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant pharmacist and pharmacy (the CVS defendants) were entitled to summary judgment dismissing the negligence/wrongful death causes of action against them. Plaintiff’s decedent was prescribed hydromorphone for pain (up to eight milligrams every three hours). The prescription was filled by defendant pharmacist. Shortly after returning home from the hospital and taking an eight milligram dosage of hydromorphone, plaintiff’s decedent gasped for air and died. The autopsy identified the cause of death as acute hydromorphone intoxication. Noting that the duty of care owed to a patient by a pharmacist had not been clearly articulated, the Second Department issued a comprehensive opinion tracing the historical role of pharmacists and several analogous standards of care. The court concluded the pharmacist has a duty to accurately fill a doctor’s prescription and need not inquire further unless there exists a clear-cut contraindication for use of the medication. No such contraindication was apparent here. The court described the pharmacist’s duty as follows:

… [W]e conclude that, when a pharmacist has demonstrated that he or she did not undertake to exercise any independent professional judgment in filling and dispensing prescription medication, that pharmacist cannot be held liable for negligence in the absence of evidence that he or she failed to fill the prescription precisely as directed by the prescribing physician or that the prescription was so clearly contraindicated that ordinary prudence required the pharmacist to take additional measures before dispensing the medication … . Abrams v Bute, 2016 NY Slip Op 01627, 2nd Dept 3-9-16

NEGLIGENCE (PHARMACIST’S DUTY OF CARE CLEARLY ARTICULATED)/PHARMACISTS (DUTY OF CARE IN DISPENSING MEDICATION CLEARLY ARTICULATED)

You might also like
Re: a Slip and Fall in a McDonald’s Restaurant, the McDonald’s Defendants Were Not Liable as an Out-of-Possession Landlord, a Franchisor, or a Property Owner—Summary Judgment Properly Granted
DEFENDANT’S GENERAL AWARENESS THAT PUDDLES FORMED IN THE AREA OF PLAINTIFF’S SLIP AND FALL AND THAT WATER TURNS TO ICE WAS NOT ENOUGH TO DEMONSTRATE DEFENDANT HAD CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE OF THE ICY CONDITION (SECOND DEPT).
Action Abandoned, Should Not Have Been Restored
DEFENDANT HOTEL PROPERLY FOUND NEGLIGENT FOR FAILING TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE SECURITY IN THIS THIRD-PARTY ASSAULT CASE; HOWEVER THE HOTEL SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN APPORTIONED 100% OF THE FAULT (SECOND DEPT).
THE ALLEGEDLY DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS MADE IN A KOREAN-LANGUAGE CHAT ROOM WERE PROTECTED BY QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE, CRITERIA EXPLAINED (SECOND DEPT).
Petition by Guardian to Transfer Assets of Incapacitated Person Properly Denied
BECAUSE PETITIONER-WIFE DID NOT COMPLY WITH THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE EPTL, SHE WAS NOT ENTITLED TO HER ELECTIVE SHARE OF HER DECEASED HUSBAND’S DEATH BENEFIT (SECOND DEPT).
DEFENSE COUNSEL SUCCESSFULLY PURSUED A MISIDENTIFICATION DEFENSE THROUGHOUT THE TRIAL BUT CONCEDED THE ISSUE IN SUMMATION, DEFENDANT DID NOT RECEIVE EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL; A WITNESS MAY IDENTIFY THE DEFENDANT AT TRIAL DESPITE A PROCEDURALLY-DEFECTIVE PRE-TRIAL IDENTIFICATION (SECOND DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER OFFICER DEMONSTRATED RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR THE SAFETY... USE OF PLAINTIFF’S LAND WAS PERMISSIVE, NOT HOSTILE; EASEMENT BY PRESCRIPTION...