[Pharmwaste] FW: RxPatrol Alert / Prescription info leads to robbery-Indiana

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Tossed prescription leads to robbery

WTHR-TV (IN)          Indiana

By Bob Segall

08/03/2006                                     Forwarded By Capt. Richard Conklin   RxPatrol <http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=5237714&ClientType=Printable> 

 

The personal information found on prescription pill bottles is all someone needs to commit a crime. 13 Investigates found hundreds of labels tossed out by local pharmacies in wide open dumpsters. It's a violation of state and federal law and it could put you and your family at risk. An Indiana woman says this problem is not new, and the nation's largest pharmacy chain should have fixed it years ago.

 

Becky Grounds still remembers the phone call she got from detectives. They told Grounds her mother had been robbed. "They took it all and it was a full prescription," she said.

 

The thieves stole a prescription for Oxycontin a powerful drug with a very high street value. Doctors prescribed it for Margie Kerr because of chronic arthritis and back problems. "She needed it for the pain," said Grounds.

 

That didn't matter to the thief who stole medication from a 76-year-old woman. The question is why someone targeted Margie? Detectives say the answer lies in the dumpster behind her drug store.

 

"It wasn't protected at all. Somebody was going through the pharmacy trash dumpster and found information with a name and address and type of medication she was receiving," said Sergeant Brad Swain, Monroe County Sheriff's Department.

 

The thief then showed up on Margie's front porch. He said he worked for the pharmacy and needed to take back her prescription to fix a problem. "She said fine and just handed it to him. She was too naïve. She just felt he was being honest," said Grounds.

 

Grounds says the crime changed her parents' life. "They were just really afraid after that for a long time. If he knew that information and he knew they were elderly, he could come back and that's one of the reasons she decided never to take that medication again," she said.

 

That crime happened five years ago. At the time CVS told investigators and Margie's family it would take care of the problem: that prescription labels with customer information would not be put in the trash.

 

"They promised me we will now be shredding every piece," said Grounds.

 

Five years later, that is not happening at many pharmacies around central Indiana. We checked dumpsters at CVS stores and other pharmacies. Where we took trash, we found more than half the dumpsters contained customers' personal information. In fact, we even found dozens of prescription labels for oxycodone, the same drug that prompted a total stranger to rob Margie Kerr at her front door.

 

"I would think in this day and age that they would be more careful. There is a potential of this information getting out and of more violent crime to patients," said Sgt. Swain.

 

Becky Grounds says the problem has gone on long enough. She says it's time for drug stores to learn from their past mistakes and this time, to do something about it. "You are at their mercy until they change their programs and their way of disposing of information that shouldn't be out there in the public."

 

While pharmacies are trying to address this issue, you should be protecting your prescription privacy, too. Pharmacists say when you get a new prescription, don't throw away the packaging as you leave the drug store because often it contains your personal information. Make sure you take the label off your pill bottles before you thrown them away at home. Also, do not trust strangers with your medication.

 

It seems like that robber stole more than pills. He also took away a senior citizens' peace of mind. Margie is now in her eighties. She's in a Bloomington nursing home and her daughter says she's never gotten over the feeling of being violated in her own home. Her family hopes sharing her story will help the rest of us. 

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