Pharmacy Chain Employee Posed as a Pharmacist, Spurring Consumer Protection Suit against the Chain

In a case in which a woman posed as a pharmacist and worked at a pharmacy chain for many years, the chain has agreed to pay $7.5 million and implement additional oversight measures to settle a consumer protection lawsuit against it, according to a February 4, 2020, New York Times article and a February 3, 2020, news release from the Santa Clara County district attorney's office.

For more than 15 years, the woman was employed as an intern pharmacist and a pharmacist for the chain, working at locations in three cities. She had never been licensed as a pharmacist. To get promotions, the employee used the license numbers of legitimately registered pharmacists, such as a pharmacist with the same first name. She dispensed more than 745,000 prescriptions, including more than 100,000 prescriptions for controlled substances. Authorities found no evidence that...