A decade of deficiencies and violations at local pharmacy and Petersburg institution
All the details in our Health Safety stories come from publicly available Final Orders, Consent Orders, Orders of Suspension and other documents from the Virginia Department of Health Professionals. For more information, see the Editor’s note below the story.
PETERSBURG—Walnut Hill Pharmacy, which has been on South Sycamore Street since 1969, is somewhat of an institution in Petersburg. After it was purchased by pharmacists Jarrett Rockwell and Heather Pritchett (Scott) in 2010, the pharmacy added to its long legacy of dispensing medications to the city's residents an additional tradition — that of multiple inspection violations notices from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy.
The first time under its new ownership that Walnut Hill Pharmacy was found to have multiple deficiencies came after an inspection in July 2013. The deficiencies—four major and three minor—spanned from serious concerns such as pharmacists failing to verify the accuracy of prescriptions to more minor concerns, including improper record keeping. They were listed as follows:
1) Insufficient enclosures or locking devices; 2) pharmacists not verifying or failing to document verification of accuracy of dispensed prescriptions; 3) pharmacist not checking and documenting repackaging or bulk packaging; 4) pharmacist not documenting final verification of non-sterile compounding; 5) not properly documenting partial filling; 6) compliance packaging or labeling does not conform to USP requirements; and 7) required compounding/dispending/distribution records not complete and properly maintained.
The pharmacy was ordered to pay a fine of $2,000 and submit documentation to show that they had corrected the deficiencies, which they did.
Two years later, the pharmacy received notice of another major deficiency discovered during a May 2015 inspection. The pharmacists at Walnut Hill Pharmacy were once again failing to verify the accuracy of dispensed prescriptions (or document said verification.)
This step—which is key in helping pharmacies avoid prescription fraud— is widely considered the most important in the prescription filling process. The pharmacy was ordered to pay a $500 fine and once again demonstrate that they had corrected the deficiency, which they did.
Walnut Hill Pharmacy stayed clear of inspection violations for three years after the 2015 inspection. But in May 2018, they were once again cited for two additional deficiencies — for which they were fined $750 and ordered to correct — including failing to store prescription drugs in the prescription department as required and remodeling the pharmacy without Board approval.
Again, after several quiet years, the pharmacy received a July 2018 letter from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy. The pharmacy was found to have dispensed “excessively high” doses of narcotics and other controlled substances to a patient during a two-year period between March 2016 and March 2018, despite “substantial evidence of potential abuse or misuse” and the “potential for severe adverse interactions” between the prescribed drugs.
Of the 213 prescriptions that the pharmacy dispensed to the patient throughout the two-year period, a staggering 86 percent were Schedule II drugs with a high potential for abuse, written by prescribers in California. Despite these findings, no sanctions or fines were imposed against the pharmacy. Instead, the pharmacy was simply ordered to make sure that they were complying with the law.
Less than a year ago, in August 2023, Walnut Hill once again ran afoul of the inspectors, this time for a failure of the pharmacist to check repackaging. They were fined $250, ordered to correct the violation and once again allowed to continue operating as usual.
*
To file a formal complaint against a health professional, click here. For links to the public information informing this story, see below.
Want to know if your doctors, other medical professionals or local pharmacies have been investigated? Check out the license lookup.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When citizens are a danger to the public safety, law enforcement arrests them and charges them with crimes; they have the opportunity to face a jury of their peers; if convicted, they serve time and/or probation that can often ensnare them in the system for years.
When a medical professional is an alleged danger to the public safety, the Virginia Department of Health Professionals handles all facets of the inquiry, including the investigation and penalties. And sometimes, even when a medical professional is found liable of doing harm to patients, they may face a reprimand, pay a fine and continue to practice, without missing a day of work and with little chance for the public to see what they’ve done.
The Health Safety stories in this series tell the facts of cases where medical professionals endanger our public health safety. They also bring you into the world of the medical board’s consent orders and public final orders, so you can see exactly how the VDHP’s self-policing system works.
LINKS TO DOCUMENTS REFERENCED IN THIS STORY
Full History of Walnut Hill Pharmacy notices and orders
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: A decade of deficiencies and violations at local pharmacy
