US PHARMACY chain, Walgreens, has learned a valuable, if costly lesson about the importance of checking would-be employees' references before hiring them.
The pharmacy giant agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle with Californian authorities after an employee was charged with impersonating a pharmacist and illegally dispensing hundreds of thousands of prescriptions, including more than 100,000 for opioid medications.
Prosecutors have alleged that Kim Thien Le (PD 02 Aug 2019) used the license numbers of registered pharmacists to bluff her way behind the dispensaries at Walgreens stores in Santa Clara and Alameda counties.
Following the announcement that the pharmacy group willpay penalties, costs and remedial payments totalling US$7.5 million, Alameda Country District Attorney, Nancy O'Malley, said "the burden is on the company to make sure its employees are properly licensed and to complete a thorough background check".
Le has issued a not guilty plea to the charges of impersonating a pharmacist.
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