Pharmacist liability for suicide by drug overdose

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.