Sternberg v. Cal. State Bd. of Pharmacy

Plaintiff appealed the trial court's denial of a petition for a writ of administrative mandate, seeking to reverse a decision by the California State Board of Pharmacy subjecting his pharmacist’s license to discipline following the discovery of an employee’s widespread theft of a dangerous drug from the pharmacy plaintiff supervised as the pharmacist-in-charge. The court concluded that the Board properly interpreted Business and Professions Code section 4081 to hold plaintiff strictly liable for violations leading to licensing discipline. Further, had plaintiff restricted access to the passcode or put in place measures to ensure employees placed orders only through the pharmacy’s phone system, he could have averted the employee’s theft. The court also concluded that plaintiff failed to properly oversee the operations of the pharmacy and the Board could have concluded that theft would have been averted if he supervised and randomly audited drug deliveries, conducted checks of his staff’s work, and actively participated in the inventory and delivery process. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Sternberg v. Cal. State Bd. of Pharmacy" on Justia Law