Massachusetts regulators have yanked the licenses of scores of pharmacists in recent years, according to a Globe analysis of national disciplinary data, giving them a track record not out of line with other states, even as they repeatedly failed to discipline the Framingham compounding pharmacy now blamed for a deadly US outbreak of fungal meningitis.
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy revoked or suspended the licenses of 138 of the more than 11,000 licensed pharmacists in the state during the six years preceding June 2011. That is more than many other states, according to data collected by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
Comments
Globe, good article. Also look into other inspections and whether they are unannounced. Psychiatric hospitals, I know, used to have inspections announced a week or two in advance. Needless to say, much prettying up was done. Inspections that check for health and safety should all be unannounced.
"In particular, he and others questioned the board’s decision six years ago to ignore its own staff’s recommendations to formally sanction New England Compounding." What could possibly go wrong here? I'd like to see a profile of the Board. Why would I think that this Board is made up of people who have little understanding of what their mission is, were appointed by some sort of friend, relative or person who they one did some sort of favor for? I bet it would be interesting whose campaign they contributed to as well. This is the pattern, this is the proven way MA works. Go tell the dead it's not what you know, it's who you know. And follow the money...see how one or two pharmacists have little power, but a large company? Pitiful....any Board member with an ounce of honesty or integrity should stand up, tell the families of the dead and the MA public what happened, then walk away.
Good article.
What happened here in Massachusetts is a disgrace. And realizing that warnings went back 6 years, that receommendatios were made, it is hard to forgive.
We need to appoint regulators who are not afraid to regulate. And we need to change the culture that calls regulation bad for business. It is usually the case that it is better for consumers. In this case, it was a matter of life and death for so many. I hope we learn from this story and extrapolate it to other areas of industry as well. We need to regulate industry and, yes, we need oversight in government. We need more watchdogs at all levels of government to prevent this sort of thing from happening over and over again.
The lack of disciplinary action on NECC and later deaths ocurred on Patrick's watch. So far no heads have rolled. This is a major and total breakdown on the State DPH's part. Why is Patrick protecting incompetence and mismanagement? Remember many, many innocent people died from this!
The Patrick administration defended its Board? 24 people and counting are dead, on THEIR watch, and they're defending the Board? At best there was a massive failure of oversight, a deadly result of Deval Patrick's preference for international junkets and other activities that feather his nest for national ambitions, while he leaves the tedious business of running the state to his singularly ineffective staff.
There is a story to be told other than the one appearing in the Globe. Resders should remember that aside from Andrea Estes, who seems to be called in only on assignment, the Globe no longer has any investigating reporters. Some glimpse of that other story is in the NY Times today. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Abby Goodnough, Sabrina Tavernise and Andrew Pollack, Spotlight put on founders of drug firm in outbreak, New York Times, October 25,012, at www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/health/with-meningitis-outbreak-a-spotlight-on-family-behind-compounding-pharmacy.html ]
The article in today's NYTimes raises some interesting points, indicating that the Framingham company executives were fundraisers for Scott Brown and that they were terrific "job creators." We read that the Board that was part of Governor Romney's administration in 2006 vacated any sanctions imposed on this dangerously fast growing enterprise. Why? But you've got to hand it to Eric Fehrnstrom and Mitt Romney. By taking all the computer hard drives with them as they walked out the door, they left no incriminating evidence of what might have been New England Compounding's efforts in influence Romney and Romney's Board to drop all sanctions. Were they also fundraisers for Romney? Is this a partisan issue? It might be. Karl Rove could make a scary TV ad showing scurrying rats emerging from filthy vats at New England Compounding and we know who he'd blame. It would NOT be Governor Romney. Should it be a partisan issue? The comments below make it so. But, if it is, this company had a direct relationship to Scott Brown, escaped sanctions under Mitt Romney and continued doing business. The Republican line is to lift regulations across the board. But, boy...would I like to see those conveniently missing emails to Governor Romney's office when New England Compounding was facing sanctions.