Abuse

The Tennessee Adult Protection Act, T. C. A. Sec. 71-6-101 et seq, creates civil action for compensatory and, as appropriate, punitive damages when "adults" covered by the act are victims of abuse or neglect, sexual abuse or exploitation and for theft of money or property whether by fraud, deceit, coercion or otherwise. Those covered by the Act fall within this definition of adult:

“Adult” means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older who because of mental or physical dysfunctioning or advanced age is unable to manage such person’s own resources, carry out the activities of daily living, or protect such person from neglect, hazardous or abusive situations without assistance from others and who has no available, willing, and responsibly able person for assistance and who may be in need of protective services; provided, however, that a person eighteen (18) years of age or older who is mentally impaired but still competent shall be deemed to be a person with mental dysfunction for the purposes of this chapter

The Act also permits recovery of attorneys’ fees in certain circumstances.

On the afternoon of June 4, 2004, a woman named Patricia Copening driving a SUV ran into a delivery-van driver who had pulled over to repair a flat tire on the highway’s shoulder, killing him at the scene. She also hit another man, causing a head and other injuries.

A lawsuit filed by the victims and their families against Wal-Mart, who dispensed a painkiller prescription to Copening, asks whether drugstores must use information at their disposal to protect the public from potentially dangerous customers. State officials had sent letters to 14 pharmacies in the Las Vegas area warning that Copening could be abusing drugs. The letters were issued after a state-ordered prescription audit identified potential drug abusers, including Copening.

According to this story from Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Nevada pharmacies have been gathering information about prescription drug use, sending it to the state, and receiving letters from the state advising about potential drug abuse since 1997.

Articles Tagged with Abuse

Tennessee Adult Protection Act

Lawsuit Against Pharmacists For Filling Prescriptions for Known Drug Abuser