For medical professionals, please..what does it mean for a dentist to prescribe rx out of the scope..?

of his practice? I worked (for 5 years) for a dentist that routinely prescribed pain meds, sleeping pills and tranquilizers to office personnel and family, unrelated to dental issues, including me. He authorized me to write and/or call in rx for same. Recently, he fired me for doing so and filed a criminal complaint with the local authorities. Do I have any defense and/or recourse? I have always been a law-abiding citizen and took him at his word that I was authorized to write said rx's. He even coached me as to how to write them and how to sign his name. I am seriously concerned about this. Any advice from medical professionals will be genuinely appreciated.

For medical professionals, please..what does it mean for a dentist to prescribe rx out of the scope..?
U r screwed. Unless u have been to medical school and graduated, it is unlawful for u to write a prescription for any medication regardless of whether the dr told u to do it or not. I guarantee u that if it went to court, the dr would not stand up and say "Oh yes, I allow her to writs prescriptions all the time." He is also out of the scope of his practice if he is writing scrips for sleeping pills. The best u can do is report him to the dental board and hope they investigate and revoke his license. Do not ever write a scrip for any medication. Only a dr can do that.


Good Luck.
Reply:CALL THE ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE IN YOUR AREA , WHERE HE IS ..CONTACT ATTORNEY , YOU HAVE RIGHTS , HE FORCED YOU ...I KNOW THIS SOUNDS WRONG BUT TELL THEM HE WANTED , SEXUAL FAVORS FOR YOU TO GET HIM AND HIS FAMILY PAIN MEDS AND TRANQUILIZERS.... IF WORSE COMES TO, WORSE I RECOMMEND THAT!!!
Reply:This is clearly outside the scope of his license and he can (should) have his license revoked for at least one year, if not forever.





As to your liablity, all I can say is, "Good luck." You need to talk to a lawyer yesterday. It is possible that he is setting you up to say that it was YOU all along who was responsible for all those illegal prescriptions that he is afraid he will be prosecuted for.





Seriously. Go to a lawyer now and I wish you luck. You were acting as his agent and doing as you were told, but it may be difficult to convince a judge or jury that you had no reasonable way to know that what you were doing was illegal.





As far as claiming sexual harrassment, I can see where "38" is coming from, but I'd say that you would be opening up a whole other can of worms if you try to make up something like this. Who knows? Maybe he would go along with the idea that there was something sexual going on, but then claim that YOU initiated it. He could ruin your reputation totally.





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Reply:Did he and you write the scripts on a carbon copy rx pad? If so, were they in numerical order and bound- meaning you couldn't just write one and rip it off a pad? If yes, then it might help you if you wrote out the script and he signed it or if he wrote one in the same book after you did. If you are not a nurse, you are not legally authorized to call in ANY medication to a pharmacy or sign any scripts. It sounds like he may be in trouble with the authorities over some of the scripts he wrote for his "family". Were you the only employee that did this, were there others in your office that also wrote scripts or could testify that he told you to write them?





Get a good attorney and file for unemployment- he unjustly fired you.
Reply:OUCH! Sounds sticky my friend. Practicing any kind of medicine without a license is serious business, no matter who "told" you, or "coached" you, or "trained" you to do it. You didn't state what your position in this dental office was, but it sounds close to a nursing position to me, if you were dispensing medication orders to pharmacies. First defense...get a lawyer...a good one, and do whatever they tell you to do. Second defense...tell the licensing medical board in your state that holds the professional licensure of the dentist in question everything you know about his prescription habits. The office records can be dummied up, but the pharmacy records can't. Especially now that HIPPA is in effect. I'd also advise writing down everything, everyplace, everytime, everyhow, and every incident you remember that might be relevent. Meanwhile, if you do hold a professional license, hold your breath that you don't get called before them, and that legal charges don't get filed against you, while all of this sorts itself out. You also didn't state why you were fired. That could make or break this situation. Pawn your jewels, sell your car, mortgage your house, but I'd hire that lawyer if I were you. Sounds like you are going to need one.
Reply:If what you claim about his behavior is true, then he has committed a felony. Most states track prescriptions for controlled substances carefully these days. But you are guilty also.





Several laws have been broken here, by both him and you. You aren't allowed to write prescriptions using his name, even with his say-so.





You need to increase your own sense of ethics, and not do things that are immoral or illegal, even when others encourage you, or claim not to care. Corollaries to this are: you need to not make excuses about your bad behavior, and you need to be aware of your propensity to deny that you were aware that what you did was wrong.





Tell the authorities about the arrangements you had with the dentist when they discuss this with you. But I wouldn't expect you to get out of this scot-free. You need to get legal assistance quickly. Moreover, do not speak to investigating authorities with an attitude of "he said I could do it." You'd best lead with, "What I did was wrong, but I did it under the direction of my employer." If you don't show contrition, the law is unlikely to show you any mercy.





And if you did make CS Rx's with your employer's permission, then there should be some evidence of that in his dental records. Don't forget, the pharmacies and the state gov't should also have records of all the prescriptions written in his name.





Best wishes to you, and stay away from all drugs of abuse and people who abuse them.
Reply:I understand where your coming from, I work in


a pharmacy and believe me I see so much


illegal stuff going on that if I wanted to I can


make so much money of them.


As in blackmail.......doctors and several


pharmacy's, but I will not do that.


You need to get as much proof and evidence


as possible, words don't mean sh*t. Sorry but


that's the truth. Like for example, I know exactly


where they put the expired meds and what the


owner does with billing the insurance company


and selling samples. I'm just waiting for the


right time to get all the proof and take them


down. Are you ready and willing to except what


you did, by doing what your prior boss had


asked you to do you do realize your as guilty as


he is. So if your willing to go to jail then by all


mean go for it, since your blew the whistle I'm


sure they'll give you probation instead of jail


time.





By the way, I'm sort of in the same situation.