A Portage la Prairie pharmacy owner who alerted regulators to suspicions that her business partner was mishandling narcotics has herself been fined $15,000 after a disciplinary panel found she failed to properly oversee the pharmacy’s controlled substances.
The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba disciplinary panel issued its decision on Aug. 20, after the owner pleaded guilty to professional misconduct and to displaying a lack of knowledge, skill or judgment in the practice or operation of a pharmacy. She also admitted to dispensing narcotics without valid prescriptions or authorization, failing to protect her narcotic security signature, failing to oversee perpetual inventory, and failing to report unexplained drug shortages and a February 2021 break-in within the required 10-day window.
The panel said the 10 charges she pleaded guilty to stemmed primarily from her failure to adequately oversee the pharmacy’s controlled substance accountability practices. Between June 2020 and the end of 2021, the panel identified 215 discrepancies in the pharmacy’s perpetual inventory, including 143 drug shortages.
A Business Partnership Breaks Down
Before opening her own pharmacy, the owner had worked as a staff pharmacist in Portage la Prairie for about 13 years, eight of them alongside pharmacist Glen Pauch, who has also faced separate college discipline. Before she gave notice in January 2020, the two verbally agreed she would initially be sole owner of the new pharmacy, with Pauch eventually buying in. Under their arrangement, she handled quality-improvement programs, incident reporting and policy manuals, while Pauch managed what the panel described as “all back-office tasks.”
From June 2020 to October 2021, the panel said an “alarming” 39,000 doses of controlled substances went unaccounted for at the pharmacy, while Pauch improperly dispensed drugs to 11 patients and admitted to using drugs while on the job, according to a separate disciplinary decision issued earlier this year.
Investigation Traced to Early Refills
The investigation that led to charges against both pharmacists began in October 2021, when the pharmacy manager reported that Pauch was regularly dispensing immediate-release opioid refills to a patient 17 to 18 days early without proper physician authorization. She told the college she was worried about Pauch’s health and suspected he was diverting or misusing prescription medication.
The panel noted she first became concerned about early refills in January 2021 but did not raise the issue at the time, and later abandoned an attempted intervention as Pauch was going through what the panel described as a personal crisis. Three purchases totalling 22,000 milligrams of hydromorphone powder were never entered into any pharmacy record, and just over 19,000 milligrams remain unaccounted for.
The panel called it the “most concerning part” of the case that the manager admitted she failed to record hydromorphone powder produced at the pharmacy and failed to maintain inventory records or a receipt log for the drug. Since she had delegated tasks to Pauch, the panel said she remained responsible for ensuring inventory was maintained, discrepancies were investigated, and losses reported within the legislated 10-day period.
Key Figures in the Pharmacy Discipline Case
Penalties for Both Pharmacists
The panel said the owner was aware patient-returned substances were not being handled properly but took no corrective action between June 2020 and October 2021, despite knowing of significant discrepancies and shortages. It found the pharmacy had no system to track unusable controlled substances, and in one case such substances stored by Pauch in an unsecure manner “ultimately disappeared.”
While the panel said she “should have contacted the college sooner,” it also acknowledged she had initiated the complaint against Pauch that resulted in discipline for both of them. She told the panel she regrets her conduct and co-operated throughout the investigation.
The panel accepted a joint recommendation for a $15,000 fine plus $10,000 in costs. Her licence will carry a two-year restriction barring her from working as a supervisor, and she must undergo a year of routine pharmacy inspections. In June, Pauch received the maximum fine of $25,000 and was ordered to pay $75,000 toward the college’s investigation costs, along with a 30-month suspension and licence restrictions.
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