If this man is guilty, what say he his punishment? **************************************************************

Kansas City Pharmacist Charged With Diluting Chemotherapy Drugs to Cut Costs

By Josh Freed Associated Press Writer Published: Aug 15, 2001

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Investigators were trying to locate cancer patients who may have received improper dosages of chemotherapy drugs because of a pharmacist's alleged plot to save money. Robert R. Courtney, 48, is accused of dispensing two drugs - Taxol and Gemzar - in amounts that were a fraction of what had been prescribed.

Federal authorities said some intravenous drug bags mixed at Courtney's pharmacy contained between 39 percent and less than 1 percent of the dose ordered by doctors.

The dilution would have saved about $780 for one order of the drugs, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

It was not immediately known how many patients were affected.

"There could literally be hundreds of patients who received improper dosages," FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said Tuesday.

Courtney was expected to surrender to the FBI Wednesday on a single felony count of misbranding and adulteration of a drug, according to his attorney, Jean Paul Bradshaw.

Federal agents seized records from Courtney's Research Medical Tower Pharmacy on Monday out of a concern for public health, Lanza said

"We don't have just one instance," Lanza said. "Our records indicate there were many instances over a period of time."

Taxol was first approved in 1992 as a second-line therapy for advanced ovarian or breast cancer. It is also used against AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma and lung cancer. Gemzar is used to treat pancreatic cancer and some types of lung cancer.

AP-ES-08-15-01 0655EDT

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Answers

Oh man, just when you thought pharmacists were about the only people you could trust any more.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

The more I read/hear ,like this story (if true), of the selfish, no heart...feelings for another human being, makes me so sad. Again, if true, the punishment should not only address his crime but, include his selfish disregard for human life. He would be less then a snake crawling on his belly in a swamp full of waste. If convicted, I hope the information of his crime against humanity and face is plastered all over the country, for all to see!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Sounds like a death penalty case to me.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

No doubt this will be the poster case to make new legislation, ostensibly for our benefit, that will ultimately control pharmacies in such a way that it will be like getting your medicine from the .gov.

I hope no one has been seriously harmed by this person's greed.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Barefoot, right again. Greed is the key here. Greed is one of the basic "sins" available to selfish people. Greed shows selfishness (service to self) behavior for what it is, a purely negative choice.

Another one is Vanity. I was recently watching a movie, The Devil's Advocate, in which Al Pacino played the part of the devil. I really enjoyed his portrayal of just how easily he could entice us to make selfish choices. Toward the end of the show he said that *Vanity* was his favorite sin, and he relied on it often to temp us "good" folks.

If you haven't seen it, go rent it from a video store. I think it's a classic portrayal of positive versus negative actions and choices. Even the ending is a stunning reminder of how careful we have to be if we don't want to play the negative game. Very educational.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

If anyone sees more information on this, please post it.

Gordon, I watched the movie at least three times, very powerful.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

Missouri Pharmacist Charged With Diluting Cancer Drugs; Officials Trying to Find Patients

By Josh Freed Associated Press Writer Published: Aug 15, 2001

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A wealthy pharmacist accused of diluting chemotherapy drugs surrendered to the FBI on Wednesday as investigators studied his records page by page to find patients who may have been given weakened treatments for cancer. Authorities said some intravenous drug bags contained less than 1 percent of the dosages ordered by doctors.

Robert R. Courtney, 48, is accused of diluting prescriptions for Taxol and Gemzar filled at his Research Medical Tower Pharmacy in Kansas City.

He was charged Tuesday with a single felony count of misbranding and adulteration of a drug and was ordered held without bond by a judge who called him a flight risk. The court order also said Courtney was worth more than $10 million in stock and property.

If convicted, Courtney faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He did not speak during the hearing, but defense attorney Jean Paul Bradshaw - a former U.S. Attorney in Missouri - said he expected his client would plead innocent.

Bradshaw said Wednesday he and Courtney were cooperating with the government to address some of its concerns, specifically the issue of the number of patients that may be involved.

"Any patients the government would be concerned about is a much smaller number than has been suggested in recent media reports," Bradshaw said. He declined to elaborate.

Federal investigators said Tuesday there could be hundreds of patients who received improper dosages.

There was no immediate indication whether any patients have been harmed. An FBI hot line set up to find potential victims had recorded more than 150 calls by Wednesday afternoon.

"What we're looking at is possibly hundreds of patients. It's going to be a very long investigation," FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said.

Another FBI spokesman, Jeff Lanza, added: "Our records indicate there were many instances over a period of time."

Authorities refused to discuss a possible motive, but have repeatedly pointed to the hundreds of dollars in savings per dose produced by the alleged dilution of expensive cancer drugs. In one alleged case, dilution would have saved the pharmacy about $780 for an order of drugs.

Taxol is a second-line therapy for advanced ovarian or breast cancer and is used against AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma and lung cancer. Gemzar is used to treat pancreatic cancer and some types of lung cancer.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, the dilution was discovered by a sales representative for Eli Lilly and Co., which makes Gemzar.

The representative noticed a discrepancy between the amount of Gemzar the pharmacy ordered and the amount it had billed an unidentified Kansas City-area doctor.

The doctor consulted with Eli Lilly but at that time did not have any Gemzar in stock that had been supplied by the pharmacy. The doctor sent a sample of Taxol, which is made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, to an independent laboratory, which reported in June that the sample contained less than one-third as much Taxol as prescribed.

Last month, the doctor gave the FBI and Food and Drug Administration other samples, which turned out to contain only 17 percent to 39 percent of the amount of Gemzar that had been prescribed.

Tests on later samples showed Taxol at 28 percent of the prescribed strength, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Federal agents seized records from Courtney's Kansas City pharmacy Monday. He also owns a pharmacy at the Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, Kan., but the FBI did not say if it was under scrutiny.

Susan Winckler, a pharmacist and an attorney at the American Pharmaceutical Association, said such cases are extremely rare.

While pharmacists have been known to steal drugs such as morphine for their own use, Winckler didn't know of another case where a pharmacist had diluted a potentially lifesaving treatment for cancer.

"If the allegations are true, it's tragic," she said.

Courtney's pharmacy license was placed on probation for one year beginning in July 1992 for practicing after his license had expired, said Kevin Kinkade, executive director of the Missouri State Pharmacy Board.

Referring to the latest accusations, Kinkade said: "I don't know of any other case that we've had like that."

AP-ES-08-15-01 2118EDT

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

I wouldn't call the drugs life-saving. Life-lengthening, maybe. If they were life-saving, then they would cure cancer. And we know they haven't allowed that to happen yet.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2001

"He was charged Tuesday with a single felony count of misbranding and adulteration of a drug. . . If convicted, Courtney faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine."

I trust other counts will be added and the sonofabitch has to do more than three years in prison and pay more than a $250k fine. Three years in jail for amassing a $10m fortune is nothing.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Barefoot, I hear you loud and clear. When we were going to cancer group meetings, the head guy woundn't have anything to do with the cancer association. Cancer treatments are a hell of a big business, boocoo bucks... making many filthy rich. And this jackass wasn't happy with the high markups that drugs have, he (allegedly...covering my butt by saying that) had to dilute cancer treatment to fill his pockets even fuller then they were already.

Old Git, if he is found guilty, they should put him in prison for at least 20 years plus. The people who were suppose to be getting the correct dosage and didn't, IMO, I hope they take him to civil court and drain the sucker dry of every penny he has.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Surely the chemo drugs aren't the only ones he was diluting.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001