The stupidity of this guy just astounds me. The director of pharmacy, and this was the best that he could muster? Smart enough to pass the board, but way low on common sense.
WESLEY CHAPEL - A University Community Hospital pharmacist was arrested by Pasco deputies Thursday, accused of forging three prescriptions for himself.
James "Jim" Mathew Maister, 45, of 4810 Diamonds Palm Loop, admitted to deputies that he wrote the prescriptions for Norco, which is hydrocodone, under a doctor's name and had them filled at the Target pharmacy at 1201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., a report states.
On Aug. 19, Maister gave a prescription forged on a University Community Hospital prescription pad to a pharmacist and had it filled, according to reports. On Aug. 29, he returned and asked for a refill prior to its expiration, saying he was going out of town. That one was filled, too.
On Sept. 17, he returned again to refill the prescription, but this time he was told it would not be filled unless the pharmacy contacted the doctor, surgeon Xavier Canella, to approve it. This time, according to a report, he didn't hand over the prescription and left the store. Still, the pharmacist contacted the doctor and confirmed he did not write or authorize the prescription for Maister.
The pharmacist, who knew Maister as a pharmacist and past customer, spoke with him, and he asked her not to report the fraudulent prescription, a report states. She told him it was her duty to report it. Later, Maister reportedly text messaged the pharmacist asking her again not to call police
Deputies contacted Cannella, who said he has known Maister for several years from UCH in Tampa and has treated his wife.
A deputy met with Maister this week at a Dunkin Donuts in Land O' Lakes, and the pharmacist told him he has an addiction problem, a report states. He admitted several years ago he was an addict and went through a treatment program.
"He admitted he used all the medications for himself," the deputy wrote in a report.
Maister turned himself in at the Land O' Lakes Jail on Thursday and was booked in on three counts of attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud. He was released a few hours later after posting $6,000 bail.
Maister declined to comment today. In 2002, his pharmacist license was revoked after similar charges when he worked as director of pharmacy at LifeCare Solutions, Inc. in St. Petersburg, according to state records. The Florida Board of Pharmacy fined him $10,000, plus cost of $1,230.
After drug treatment, his license was later reinstated with a probationary period that included working directly another pharmacist and not working more than 40 hours per week. It was not clear if he's still employed by UCH
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4 comments:
I admittedly know nothing about the "rules" of prescriptions, but why would those three times cause a red flag? Is is the short amount of time in between refills?
And if he was the pharmacy director why wouldn't he just rig the numbers at the hospital they must use huge amounts of that drug a few missing wouldn't seem unusual would it?
Not a Darwin Award, but still damn funny!
I wouldn't say he is really that stupid. After all he had the attention to detail to say he was the addict and not selling them.
Had it been a tech, he would never be accepted into a pharmacy again.
See...rehab doesn't work 99.9% of the time. I just call junkies Lindsays...as in Lindsay Lohan...and damn that douche bag to hell (if there is one) for besmirching the title of pharmacist. I hope someone in prison shanks him!
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