Brushwood D B
Am J Hosp Pharm. 1983 Mar;40(3):439-43.
Conditions that affect pharmacist liability for suicide by drug overdose are discussed. Traditionally, courts have refused to find liability on the part of a pharmacist who negligently dispenses medication to a patient who then commits suicide with the medication. The rationale has been that the act of suicide is not reasonably foreseeable to the pharmacist, and therefore it is an independent intervening act that breaks the chain of causation between the pharmacist's negligent act and the death of the patient. This legal precedent was followed in a recent case involving hospital pharmacists in Dallas, Texas. Analysis of the facts in the Dallas case shows that the pharmacists could reasonably have foreseen the patient's suicide, and the court's reliance on precedent might have been misplaced. This case and review exemplifies a pharmacolegal situation in which practitioners cannot strictly rely on reported case law to guide their actions. Pharmacies should develop policies and procedures to prevent patients from accumulating medications with which suicide can be consummated.
本文讨论了影响药剂师对药物过量自杀承担责任的相关情况。传统上，法院拒绝认定药剂师在疏忽地向患者配发药物后，患者使用该药物自杀时应承担责任。理由是药剂师无法合理预见自杀行为，因此这是一个独立的介入行为，切断了药剂师的疏忽行为与患者死亡之间的因果关系链。德克萨斯州达拉斯市的一起涉及医院药剂师的近期案件遵循了这一法律先例。对达拉斯案件事实的分析表明，药剂师本可以合理预见患者的自杀行为，法院对先例的依赖可能有误。这一案例及相关评论体现了一种法药学情形，即从业者不能严格依赖已报道的判例法来指导其行为。药房应制定政策和程序，以防止患者囤积可用于实施自杀的药物。
