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WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION AGAINST DOCTOR WHO OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS TO PERSONS WHO MURDERED A PHARMACIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED.

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined a wrongful death cause of action brought on behalf of a pharmacist killed by persons addicted to prescription drugs should have been dismissed. The defendant-doctor, who allegedly over-prescribed the drugs, brought the motion to dismiss:

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The defendants David Laffer and Melinda Brady conspired to commit a robbery at Haven Drugs Pharmacy, where Raymond A. Ferguson, Jr. (hereinafter the decedent), was employed as a pharmacist. During the robbery, Laffer shot and killed the decedent. Ultimately, Laffer was convicted of murder in the first degree, and Brady was convicted of robbery in the first degree. In this action, the plaintiff, as the administratrix of the decedent’s estate, and individually, alleges that in the years leading up to these crimes, the defendant physician Stan Xuhui Li prescribed Laffer and Brady excessive amounts of addictive prescription pain medications, that Laffer and Brady became addicted to these medications, and that they committed their crimes as a result of their addictions. …

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The plaintiff does not allege that Li had “the authority or the ability to control Laffer” or Brady … , that Li had any relationship with the plaintiff or the decedent … , or that Li’s treatment of Laffer or Brady “necessarily implicate[d] protection of . . . identified persons foreseeably at risk because of a relationship with [the plaintiff or the decedent]” … . Accordingly, the complaint fails to state a cause of action sounding in negligence against Li … . Ferguson v Laffer, 2017 NY Slip Op 02967, 2nd Dept 4-19-17

 

NEGLIGENCE (WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION AGAINST DOCTOR WHO OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS TO PERSONS WHO MURDERED A PHARMACIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED)/PRESCRIPTION DRUGS (WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION AGAINST DOCTOR WHO OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS TO PERSONS WHO MURDERED A PHARMACIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED)/PHARMACISTS (WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION AGAINST DOCTOR WHO OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS TO PERSONS WHO MURDERED A PHARMACIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED)/FORESEEABILITY (WRONGFUL DEATH ACTION AGAINST DOCTOR WHO OVER-PRESCRIBED DRUGS TO PERSONS WHO MURDERED A PHARMACIST SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED)

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