Abraham v. Beck

2015 Ark. 80, 456 S.W.3d 744, 2015 Ark. LEXIS 95
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 26, 2015
DocketCV-14-559
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 2015 Ark. 80 (Abraham v. Beck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abraham v. Beck, 2015 Ark. 80, 456 S.W.3d 744, 2015 Ark. LEXIS 95 (Ark. 2015).

Opinion

ROBIN F. WYNNE, Associate Justice

I,Dana Abraham, M.D., and Gary Hooker appeal from an order of the Pulaski County Circuit Court denying their motion for summary judgment and granting the cross-motion for summary judgment filed by the intervenor-defendant, the State of Arkansas. This case concerns the constitutionality of a statute requiring physicians to receive prior approval from the Arkansas State Medical Board in order to dispense legend drugs. 1 Our jurisdiction is | pursuant to Ark. Sup.Ct. R. 1 — 2(b)(6) (2014). We affirm the order of the circuit court.

Background

Dr. Dana Abraham is a breast oncology surgeon licensed to practice medicine in the State of Arkansas. Her application to the Arkansas State Medical Board for a permit to dispense legend drugs was denied at the Board’s December 2-3, 2010 meeting. Dr. Abraham filed two actions in the Pulaski County Circuit Court, one appealing from the Board’s decision under the Administrative Procedure Act and one seeking declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that Act 515 of 1983 was unconstitutional. Those cases, along with a Freedom of Information Act case filed by Dr. Abraham’s attorney related-to the proceedings before the Board, were consolidated below into case number CV2010-7400, styled Abraham v. Pierce. In that case, Dr. Abraham challenged Act 515, codified at Arkansas Code Annotated section 17-95-102; the Board’s Regulation 12 implementing Act 515; the application form; and the Board’s procedure relating to the “showing of need.” At the time, section 17-95-102, titled “Legend drugs; requirements,” provided as follows:

(a) A dispensing physician is a physician licensed under the Arkansas Medical Practices Act, § 17-95-201 et seq., § 17-95-301 et seq., and § 17-95-401 et seq., who purchases legend drugs to be dispensed to his or her patients for the patients’ personal use and administration outside the physician’s office.
(b) This section shall not apply to physicians who only dispense drugs in in-jectable form unless they are controlled substances, in which case the section shall fully apply.
(c) The dispensing physician shall:
(1)Personally dispense legend drugs, and the dispensing of such drugs may not be delegated;
[,q(2) Keep records of all receipts and distributions of legend drugs. The records shall be subject to inspection by the proper enforcement authority and shall be readily accessible for inspection and maintained in a central registry; and
(8) Label legend drugs with the following information:
(A) Patient’s name and address;
(B) Prescribing physician’s address and narcotic registry number issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice;
(C) Date of dispensing; and
(D) Directions and cautionary statements, if any, as required by law.
(d) No physician licensed under the Arkansas Medical Practices Act, § 17-95-201 et seq., § 17-95-301 et seq., and § 17-95-401 et seq., shall dispense legend drugs without prior approval by the Arkansas State Medical Board, after application to the board and on the showing of need. Licensed physicians who were dispensing in the ordinary course of their practice for the twelve (12) months immediately prior to July 4, 1983, shall be exempt from the requirements of this subsection.
(e) The board shall enforce the provisions of this section and is authorized and directed to adopt regulations to carry out its purpose.

Ark.Code Ann. § 17-95-102 (Repl. 2010) (emphasis supplied). The Board’s Regulation No. 12 provided that any nonexempt physician who desired to dispense legend drugs was required to apply to the Board on a form provided for that purpose and was required “to demonstrate the need for such dispensing of legend drugs prior to receiving approval.” The regulation further provided, “Violation of the provision of Act 515 of 1983 or violations of these regulations shall constitute ‘unprofessional conduct’ and shall subject the violator to disciplinary action....” The application form asked the physician to provide a list of drugs she wished to dispense, reasons why she wished to dispense drugs, the “location of |4nearest two (2) drug stores,” and “approximate miles from [her] office”; the physician was required to swear under oath to the answers and “certify” that she would “personally fill, label, and dispense” all drugs dispensed by her.

Dr. Abraham filed a motion for summary judgment, and on January 17, 2013, the circuit court entered an order granting her motion and declaring Arkansas Code Annotated section 17 — 19—202(d) unconstitutional as follows:

(1) The language “showing of need” contained in this statute is vague and ambiguous and;
(2) The statute constitutes special leg- ' islation and;
(3) Regulation 12 (section # 2) and portions of the Application Form related to a “showing of need” exceeds the Arkansas State Medical Board’s authority in that the Legislature reposed absolute, unregulated or undefined authority in .the Board to use unbridled discretion to determine need for issuance of a permit and that therefore, the A.C.A. § 17-95-102(d) which requires physicians to obtain approval by the Arkansas State Medical Board to dispense legend drugs is void.

Accordingly, the circuit court enjoined the Board from “denying or requiring dispensing permits to physicians based on the statute as well as the Medical Board’s Regulation 12 (section # 2) and portions of the Application form related to a ‘showing of need.’ ”

After the ruling in Abraham v. Pierce, the General Assembly amended the statutory provision that the circuit court had declared unconstitutional by passing Act 1169 of 2018. On May 17, 2013, Dr. Abraham, for herself and other physicians similarly situated, and Gary Hooker 2 (“appellants”) filed a complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief Ragainst Joseph M. Beck, M.D., Chairman, Arkansas State Medical Board, and the Arkansas State Medical Board. Appellants alleged that Act 1169 is unconstitutional as special legislation; vague and ambiguous; an unlawful delegation of authority; and that requiring a physician to “show need” constitutes an unlawful restraint of trade in violation of Arkansas and federal law. Act 1169 of 2013 amended Arkansas Code Annotated section 17-95-102(d) to read as follows:

(d)(1) A physician licensed under the Arkansas Medical Practices Act, § 17-95-201 et seq., § 17-95-301 et seq., and § 17-95-401 et seq., shall not dispense legend drugs without prior approval by the Arkansas State Medical Board after application to the board and on the showing of need.

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Bluebook (online)
2015 Ark. 80, 456 S.W.3d 744, 2015 Ark. LEXIS 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abraham-v-beck-ark-2015.