Easier Access to Veterinarian Disciplinary Records Needed

In line with the recent post found here about Pharmacy Boards making their disciplinary records more transparent, state veterinary boards also need to make their disciplinary records more transparent.  This article found here sums up the problem:

I have more complaints filed against me than a used-car lot not that you ll ever know about it.

When she picked up her kitten, Pumpkin, from the veterinarian after a routine spaying, Mount Pleasant, S.C., resident Marcia Rosenberg was stunned to find the cat nearly comatose. Soon Pumpkin s body was wracked with seizures, and her stomach swelled. Rosenberg rushed Pumpkin to another vet, who saved the cat, but the distraught owner called her state s veterinary board to complain. Told that the board had no procedure for alerting consumers about disciplinary actions taken against incompetent vets, Rosenberg mounted a successful campaign to have such actions posted on the South Carolina veterinary board s website.

Tracking complaints against vets often requires a bit of detective work. Some state veterinary boards list disciplinary actions against vets, while others do not. And complaints typically aren' t disclosed until a board investigation and judicial ruling have determined a case of wrongdoing. On her own, Rosenberg says she was able to find that the veterinarian had previously had his license suspended in Ohio and since then had more than a dozen complaints against him in South Carolina.

More Transparency in and Easier Access of Discipline Records Needed: Tennessee Case Fails to Name Pharmacy and Pharmacists

More transparency of disciplinary records is needed regarding violations of compounding rules and regulations.  Right now one must go to each individual state board of pharmacy to determine if a pharmacy or pharmacist that compounds drugs has been disciplined.  In same states, the records are not available online.  In other states, one maybe able to see that a pharmacist or pharmacy has been disciplined but it cannot be seen what the discipline was for.  In most states, you can obtain the information by writing the state board.  Some states require the requestor of the information to pay to have the information copied.  In other states, you can see that a compounding pharmacy or pharmacist was disciplined but you cannot determine the name of either.  An example of this is found in the board minutes of the Tennessee Department of Health Board of Pharmacy for Jan. 2012.  The minutes contain the following enter: 

Jan. 2012--Tennessee

5. Case No.: L11-PHR-RBS-20100093

Complaint generated from period inspection of Respondent’s compounding pharmacy. Periodic inspection found 20 partially filled compounding drugs which had expiration dates going back to 2009 and a hood which had not been recertified since 2007. At time of initial inspection Respondent stated that routine checks are conducted relating to expiration dates, however the shelf where the expired medication were found was inadvertently missed. A subsequent inspection was conducted which found that all expired drugs had been removed and that the non sterile hood had been recertified.

Prior discipline: none

Recommendation: Letter of Warning

Dr. Stephens made the motion to issue a Letter of Instruction to the pharmacy for the expired drugs. Dr. Smothers seconded the motion. The motion carried.

While this entry lets the public know that Tennessee is taking disciplinary action against pharmacies and pharmacists who break the compounding regulations and rules, it is not helpful  to consumers who want  to make informed decisions about which  pharmacies and pharmacists to use.  Easier access to disciplinary actions is greatly needed in the compounding world.  Such public access could encourage more compliance with the rules and regulations.