CARISTA v. VALUCK

2016 OK CIV APP 66, 394 P.3d 253, 2016 WL 6237855, 2016 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 31
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 19, 2016
DocketCase 114,732
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2016 OK CIV APP 66 (CARISTA v. VALUCK) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CARISTA v. VALUCK, 2016 OK CIV APP 66, 394 P.3d 253, 2016 WL 6237855, 2016 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 31 (Okla. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION BY

P. THOMAS THORNBRUGH, PRESIDING JUDGE:

¶ 1 Diane Carista appeals the dismissal, with prejudice, of her wrongful death suit against Westminster Family Drug (Pharmacy). On review, we find that dismissal was appropriate as to Carista’s existing petition, but that it is possible for Carista to amend her petition to state a recognized duty by Pharmacy. We vacate the lower court’s dismissal with prejudice, and remand with instructions that Carista be given a reasonable period to file an amended petition pursuant to 12 O.S.2011 § 2012(G).

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 This suit arises from the death of Barton Ray Carista (Decedent) from a purported overdose of painkillers prescribed by a physician.1 Plaintiff, Diane Carista (Carista), Decedent’s sister, sued several parties, including Pharmacy, seeMng damages for alleged wrongful death. Carista alleged in her petition that a “health care provider-patient relationship” existed between Decedent and Pharmacy, and that Pharmacy had acted as follows:

1. Failed to “appreciate proper prescription filling procedures for dangerous medications ... by not reviewing a Patient Prescription History Report and/or contacting the prescribing physician”;
2. Failed to provide “appropriate care including follow-up care, in failing to properly monitor and assess [Decedent’s] medications”;
3. Failed “to inform [Decedent] of the lethal consequences of certain combinations of dangerous narcotics”;
4. Failed “to control employees”;
5. Failed to “supervise the people practicing pharmacology in their pharmacies;”
6. Failed to “properly investigate and credential the people practicing pharmacology in their pharmacies”;
7. Failed to “have employees acknowledge and consider the effects of the drugs on [Decedent’s] diagnosed hypertension”; and
8. Failed to “acknowledge and consider [Decedent] a high risk for drug abuse and addiction with his history of methamphetamine and marijuana abuse,” and “protect the health and safety of [Dece[256]*256dent], thus falling below the accepted medical standards of care.”

Pharmacy moved to dismiss pursuant to 12 O.S.2011 § 2012(B)(6), alleging that it had no statutory or common law duty to act as alleged by Carista. The district court dismissed Pharmacy as a defendant. Carista now appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 3 The standard of review for an order granting a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted is de novó. Tuffy’s, Inc. v. City of Okla. City, 2009 OK 4, ¶ 6, 212 P.3d 1158. When reviewing a motion to dismiss, the Court must view the facts as true and favorably to the plaintiff. Id. The purpose of a motion to dismiss is to determine the legal sufficiency of the claim, not the underlying facts. Id. “A pleading must not be dismissed for failure to state a legally cognizable claim unless the allegations indicate beyond any doubt that the litigant can prove no set of facts which would entitle the plaintiff to relief.” Id.

¶ 4 The dismissal in this case was made on the grounds that no duty existed pursuant to the facts pled. The threshold question in any action for negligence is the existence of a duty. Wood v. Mercedes-Benz of Okla. City, 2014 OK 68, ¶ 7, 336 P.3d 457; Miller v. David Grace, Inc., 2009 OK 49, ¶ 11, 212 P.3d 1223; Bray v. St. John Health Sys., Inc., 2008 OK 51, ¶ 6, 187 P.3d 721. The existence of a legal duty is a questioh of law for the court. Id. If a defendant does not owe a duty of care to the plaintiff, there can be no liability for negligence as a matter of law. Lowery v. Echostar Satellite Corp., 2007 OK 38, ¶ 12, 160 P.3d 959; First Nat’l Bank in Durant v. Honey Creek Entertainment Corp., 2002 OK 11, ¶ 20, 54 P.3d 100. Caris-ta’s petition alleges that pharmacists filling prescriptions in Oklahoma have a broad range of duties not currently established by the state’s courts. As such, this case presents a matter of first impression,

ANALYSIS

I. THE LEARNED INTERMEDIARY DOCTRINE

¶ 5 Pharmacy’s motion to dismiss relied primarily on the “learned intermediary” doctrine. The Oklahoma Supreme Court first noted this doctrine in McKee v. Moore, 1982 OK 71, 648 P.2d 21, wherein it held that, in the absence of any directive that a warning be given directly to the patient, it is the duty of a drug manufacturer to inform a physician of known hazards, side effects, and interactions of prescription drugs, and the duty of the physician, not the manufacturer, to relay this information to the patient. Pharmacy argued that this principle places sole responsibility with the physician to communicate any matter covered by the learned intermediary doctrine, and not with a pharmacist

¶ 6 No published OHahoma case has applied this doctrine in a case involving a pharmacist. Many other states appear, however, to have adopted the doctrine, with limited exceptions, to shield pharmacists from being required to “second guess”, a physician’s medical decisions.embodied in an otherwise authorized and legally made prescription. These exceptions are generally:

1. If the prescription is “unreasonable on its face,” e.g., it prescribes facially bizarre quantities or dosages clearly outside of any acceptable range, or clearly inappropriate drugs; and

2. If the prescribed drug is clearly contraindicated, and the pharmacist has sufficient knowledge of the patient’s condition and history to know this.2

[257]*257¶ 7 These conditions appear to conform to the various Oklahoma cases that attempt to define the duties of a pharmacist. The most comprehensive Oklahoma appellate court statement regarding these duties is found in Pharmcare Oklahoma, Inc. v. State Health Care Auth., 2007 OK CIV APP 5, ¶¶ 29-30, 152 P.3d 267:

Based on the scope of a pharmacist’s practice, it is clear the responsibility of prescribing medication to a patient does not lie with a pharmacist. Rather, the determination of whether a particular medication is medically necessary for a patient lies with the treating physician or other appropriate individual.
A pharmacist’s duty to that same patient is clearly defined and limited under the Pharmacy Act. These duties include accurately filling and dispensing prescriptions, advising by counseling or providing other information, or the provision of other services that are necessary to providing pharmaceutical care. Although a pharmacist does have a duty under the Pharmacy Act to interpret and evaluate prescription orders, this does not equate with a physician’s duty of determining the medical necessity of a particular service or medication. This is a determination to be made by the patient’s treating physician in the first instance....

This existing case law does not support Car-ista’s expanded view of the duties of a pharmacist. Carista relies, however, on the (Ma-homa Pharmacy Act, 59 O.S.2Q11 & Supp. 2015 §§ 353 through 366 (Pharmacy Act), the Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC), and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (US-DEA) .regulations as a.source of the duties she claims.

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CARISTA v. VALUCK
2016 OK CIV APP 66 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2016 OK CIV APP 66, 394 P.3d 253, 2016 WL 6237855, 2016 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 31, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carista-v-valuck-oklacivapp-2016.