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PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The state Board of Pharmacy has taken disciplinary action against Sen. Leo R. Blais, R-Coventry, for a spate of violations uncovered in a routine state inspection of his pharmacy, Pawtuxet Valley Prescription & Surgical Center, in October 2007, including poor record keeping, a failure to segregate "outdated, unusable and mislabeled'' medications to make sure none were dispensed, and "misbranded drugs.''
The board voted unanimously on Thursday to publicly reprimand him and place him on probation for two years, during which time he will be monitored and required to "submit quarterly reports evidencing compliance.''
In an interview on the morning before the vote, Blais said that in his view, the consent order approved by the board "resolves all of the issues in my favor'' by putting the responsibility for any shortcomings on a former employee who served for a time as his pharmacist-in-charge.
Blais said that this former employee was let go in October 2007, and that he took immediate steps to rectify the problems brought to light by the inspection report. He said there was "never an issue of quality or patient safety.''
He also asserted: "the guilty party has already been sanctioned'' and that "the issues that have plagued this case since 2007 are now satisfied to everyone's satisfaction.''
He went a step farther in saying : "We admit that the violations that occurred were the responsibility of the previous 'pharmacist in charge,' and that, if anything, the corporation failed to provide necessary oversight'' during a period when it was also wading through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The consent order contains words to that effect. However, Catherine Cordy, chief administrator of the state Board of Pharmacy, said the former employee that Blais blamed for the problems at his prescription center remains a pharmacist in good standing in Rhode Island who was never reprimanded or disciplined in connection with the findings that led to the disciplinary actions against Blais.
"We held Mr. Blais and Pawtuxet Valley Pharmacy responsible for these problems,'' she said.
Blais is one of the only four remaining Republicans in the 38-member state Senate.
This was not the first time the Board of Pharmacy has taken disciplinary action against him and his pharmacy.
A one-time member of the state Board of Pharmacy, he was disciplined by the board in 1999 for earlier violations of pharmacy regulations over a three-year period.
The violations included errors in dispensing drugs, dispensing drugs without a valid prescription, and poor record-keeping. In one instance, Blais dispensed Haldol, an antipsychotic drug, in 5 milligram doses when the prescription called for one-tenth that amount. In two other instances, errors were made by another pharmacist in Blais' store, who received a letter of reprimand.
The board acted at that time against three licenses that Blais held -- as a pharmacist, a pharmacy registrant (the person responsible for a pharmacy), and as a pharmaceutical wholesaler. The board suspended each of the three licenses for six months, but stayed the suspensions, instead placing Blais on probation for one year.
During that year, Blais was required to appear before the pharmacy board once every six months, take and pass a course in pharmacy law and ethics, and prepare and submit a policy and procedure manual for his wholesale business. The disciplinary action did not, however, restrict Blais' ability to work as a pharmacist, to run his pharmacy or to operate his wholesale business. No fines or fees were assessed.
The consent order ratified on Thursday was described by Cordy as the result of a year of back-and-forth negotiations between lawyers for the Board of Pharmacy and Blais, who rejected an earlier version posed to him after a Jan. 17, 2008 vote by the board "to issue a reprimand with 2 year probation.''
On the advice of a Department of Health lawyer Bruce McIntyre, both Cordy and Kathy Kettle, the pharmacist-chairwoman of the pharmacy board, refused to make public the original consent order that Blais was asked to sign more than a year ago. But they provided a heavily-redacted copy of the minutes of the January 2008 meeting indicating that the recommended disciplinary action remained unchanged.
The disciplinary hearing had originally been scheduled for Dec.18, 2008, and then postponed repeatedly as one side or the other requested a continuance.
But the original agenda said the hearing would center on allegations of "unprofessional conduct," and more specifically, "on the question of whether the Department of Health, Health Services Regulation, Board of Pharmacy should revoke or suspend [Blais'] license to practice pharmacy in the State of Rhode Island."
The notice said the hearing would center on the findings of a "routine inspection" by Cordy of the Pawtuxet Valley Prescription Center, in Coventry, owned and operated by Blais, on Oct. 22, 2007: Misbranded drugs, a failure to segregate "outdated, unusable or mislabeled" medication to make sure none of it was dispensed, questions about technician training and the finding that on the day of the inspection there was "no adequately trained pharmacist for compounding medications."
The agenda also pointed to questions about the way the pharmacy kept its "inventory of controlled substances," and said there were "no established expiration dates for bulk products/active ingredients ... only 'packaged on' dates."
The agenda said: "This conduct constitutes unprofessional conduct in the State of [Rhode Island] and as such is grounds for disciplinary action ... You are hereby given the opportunity for a hearing on the question of whether your pharmacy license should be revoked, suspended or why you should be otherwise disciplined."
The consent order, signed by Blais, obviated the need for the public hearing in the closing days of this year's legislative session.
Earlier this year, he challenged Sen. Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly, for a position that Algiere has held for more than a decade -- Senate minority leader -- after the Election Day defeat of Sen. June Gibbs, R-Middletown, left only four Republicans left in the 38-member Senate, and they split two-to-two over who should be their leader. Blais eventually ended the standoff by dropping out of the contest.
