When a pharmacist has demonstrated that he did not undertake to exercise any independent professional judgment in filling and dispensing prescription medication, the pharmacist cannot be held liable for negligence in the absence of evidence that failed to fill the prescription precisely as directed by the prescribing physician or that the prescription was so clearly contraindicated that ordinary prudence required the pharmacist to take additional measures before dispensing the medication. Here, the complaint does not allege that the pharmacy exercised independent professional judgment or that it did not fill the prescriptions as directed. Nevertheless, accepting the facts as alleged in the complaint as true, and according the plaintiff the benefit of every possible favorable inference, the complaint sufficiently alleges that the prescriptions were so clearly contraindicated that ordinary prudence required the pharmacy to take additional measures before dispensing the medication. The motion to dismiss is denied.
Bistrian v. Gibson, NY Slip Op 04303 (2d Dep't August 28, 2024)
