WV Pharmacies Are Not Health Care Providers

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled in a June 28 decision (Phillips v. Larry's Drive-In Pharmacy, Inc. No. 33194; Maynard, concurring opinion) that pharmacies do not enjoy the benefits of the 1986 amendments to the Medical Professional Liability Act.

The decision reversed the Circuit Court decision finding that a pharmacy is a health care provider under the Act. The Supreme Court found that that "a pharmacy is not a “health care provider” as defined by the Legislature in W.Va. Code, 55-7B-2(c)."

Further, the Court found that "where there is any doubt about the meaning or intent of a statute in derogation of the common law, the statute is to be interpreted in the manner that makes the least rather than the most change in the common law." (Syllabus Point 5).

The WV Record reports on the decision here.