Osco Drug, Inc. v. Pharmacy Examining Board
Osco Drug, Inc. v. Pharmacy Examining Board
Opinion of the Court
A single issue is dispositive of this appeal, to wit: Was the trial court correct in granting summary judgment on the ground that the two rules in question were not authorized by statute ?
We agree with the trial court that the legislature, in adopting secs. 15.08 (5)
As noted by the trial court the legislature chose to specifically control certain advertising practices by other professions governed by the general statute (sec. 15.08) granting powers to examining boards. The trial court concluded correctly
“. . . it is clear that where the legislature has intended to control advertising in connection with a particular calling, it has expressed its intent in specific statutory language. In the face of these various examples of explicit statutory regulation of advertising, we cannot conclude that the general language of sec. 15.08 (5) ‘necessarily implies’ a grant of authority to the pharmacy board to regulate advertising.”4
The trial court also found that ch. 450, Stats., which regulates pharmacy, does mention advertising. Sec. 450.11 (2) forbids the advertising or offering for sale of indecent articles. The trial court concluded that the legislature had considered advertising by drugstores and pharmacies and had intended to confine its regulation of
We conclude that this is a proper interpretation of the powers delegated by secs. 15.08 (5) and 450.02 (7), Stats., to the Pharmacy Board.
The trial court relied on the case of Oregon Newspaper Publishers v. Peterson
The net result of our conclusion here is that the legislature did not intend to regulate the advertising of pharmaceutical prices. We, therefore, do not reach the constitutional questions raised by the plaintiffs.
Since the statutes do not presently authorize regulation of price advertising it is unnecessary to consider the reasonableness of rules Wis. Adm. Code, secs, phar 1.17 and 1.18 i neither is it necessary to consider the allegations of the Board (supplied in its affidavits) which seek
Summary judgment was properly granted to plaintiffs.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
“15.08 Examining boards. ... (5) General Powers. Each examining board may compel the attendance of witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and receive proof concerning all matters within its jurisdiction. It shall formulate rules for its own guidance and for the guidance of the trade or profession to which it pertains, and define and enforce professional conduct and unethical practices not inconsistent with the law relating to the particular trade or profession.”
“450.02 Registration. . . . (7) The examining board, upon notice and hearing, may suspend or revoke the registration of one guilty of felony or gross immorality, or who is addicted to alcoholic liquors or controlled substances to an extent affecting his fitness as a pharmacist, or who is otherwise unfit to practice as a pharmacist, or whose registration was secured by fraud or mistake or the giving of misinformation in any of the applications submitted to the examining board or who has been guilty of a violation of this chapter or ch. 161 or of violations of any of the rules of the examining board, or who has been guilty of acts of unprofessional conduct as herein defined. No such revocation shall become effective until 20 days after notice of the decision of the examining board has been served upon the person accused. Decisions of the examining board under this section shall be subject to review as provided in ch. 227 and in ease the provisions thereof are invoked by the accused within such 20-day period, such order of revocation shall become effective only at such time as may be ordered by the court. Unprofessional conduct means:
“(a) Sale of adulterated drugs.
“(b) Compounding, dispensing or selling, or causing or permitting the compounding, dispensing or sale of any drug which contains more or less than the proportionate quantity of ingredient or ingredients specified by the person ordering or prescribing such drug, or which contains an ingredient or ingredients other than those specified by the person ordering or prescribing such*693 drug, or which is of a brand or which contains an ingredient or ingredients of a brand other than that specified by the person ordering or prescribing such drug, unless, in the case of a drug dispensed pursuant to a prescription the consent of the prescriber is first obtained and recorded on the prescription. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit the addition of such inert ingredients such as emulsifiers, wetting agents, solvents, or like items as may be required in the art of compounding, preparing, mixing or otherwise producing drugs unless otherwise directed by the prescriber.
“(c) Violation of such standards as may from time to time be established or approved by the examining board.”
For example, see: secs. 446.04 (chiropractors), 447.07 (dentists), 448.14 (podiatrists), 449.08 and 449.10 (optometrists), Stats.
(1966), 244 Ore. 116, 415 Pac. 2d 21.
Id. at page 119, note 2.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). Like medicine and dentistry, pharmacy is one of the healing professions,
“What constitutes unprofessional conduct by a dentist must be determined by those standards which are commonly accepted by those practicing the same profession in the same territory. ... In the profession of the law no person can plead ignorance as a palliation for professional misconduct. In vocations, like dentistry, more recently accepted as professions, professional standards are perhaps less uniform, less well understood, and less rigidly defined. Nonetheless, the standards of conduct generally accepted by practitioners in the State of New York are not so indefinite that they cannot be determined by qualified persons. They are part of the ethics of the profession and ‘what is generally called the “ethics” of the profession is but the consensus of expert opinion as to the necessity for such standards.’ (Semler v. Oregon State Board of Dental Examiners, supra, p. 612) [(1935), 294 U. S. 608, 55 Sup. Ct. 570, 79 L. Ed. 1086] Every member of the profession should be regarded as an expert for such purpose. There is a moral dereliction in failure by any member of a profession to apply in professional practice the standards which, by consensus of opinion in the profession, are necessary.”10
The writer sees what constitutes professional conduct and ethical practices in medicine, dentistry or pharmacy as deriving from the experience and judgment of the members of the professional group involved. The writer sees the appellant board as mandated by the legislature to define and enforce such standards of professional and ethical conduct. The writer finds neither intent nor necessity for the legislature to set forth with particularity all acts which are to constitute unprofessional conduct in the practice of medicine, dentistry or pharmacy.
It is true, as the majority opinion points out, that ch. 450 of the statutes contains a prohibition against the advertising for sale of “indecent articles.”
See: State v. Wakeen (1953), 263 Wis. 401, 411, 67 N. W. 2d 364, stating: “The United States Pharmacopoeial Convention is as broadly and truly representative of the medical and pha/rma-ceutical professions as the institutions relied on in enactments that application for medical or dental licenses must meet current standards of practice set by medical or dental schools or associations. . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) See also: 28 C. J. S., Druggists, p. 499, sec. 1, stating: “. . . The practice of pharmacy ... is a profession and not a trade. It includes retailing, compounding, and dispensing drugs, medicines, and poisons . . . .”
See: Charles H. LaWall, Four Thousand Years of Pharmacy (1927). See also: 12 Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Professions, p. 497, sec. 12.
As to practice of medicine, see ch. 448, Wis. Stats., “Medical Examining Board;” as to practice of dentistry, see ch. 447, “Dentistry Examining Board;” as to practice of pharmacy, see ch. 460, “Pharmacy Examining Board.”
Sec. phar 1.17, 6 Wis. Adm. Code, providing: “Advertising availability of dangerous drugs by name prohibited. No pharmacist, proprietor or manager of any pharmacy shall advertise in any manner, the availability of dangerous drugs by name.”
Sec. phar 1.18, 6 Wis. Adm. Code, providing: “Advertising prices of prescription medication prohibited. No pharmacist, pro
Oregon Newspaper Publishers v. Peterson (1966), 244 Ore. 116, 415 Pac. 2d 21.
Sec. 689.620, Ore. Stats., provides: “The board may:
“(1) Make regulations, necessary for the protection of the public, pertaining to the practice of pharmacy and the lawful performance of its duties.
“(2) Regulate the practice of pharmacy.”
Sec. 15.08 (5), Wis. Stats., provides: “General Powers,” in pertinent part: “Each examining board . . . shall formulate rules for its own guidance and for the guidance of the trade or profession to which it pertains, and define and enforce professional conduct and unethical practices not inconsistent with the law relating to the particular trade or profession.”
See also: Sec. 450.02 (7), Wis. Stats., dealing with the appellant pharmacy examining board’s rights and duties: “The examining board, upon notice and hearing, may suspend or revoke the registration of one . . . who has been guilty of a violation of this chapter or ch. 161 or of violations of any of the rules of the examining board, or who has been guilty of acts of unprofessional conduct as herein defined. . . .”
Matter of Cherry v. Board of Regents (1942), 289 N. Y. 148, 156, 44 N. E. 2d 405, where the statute involved, while specifically restricting some types of advertising, provided that the license and registration of a practitioner of dentistry could be revoked after hearing on the ground that the dentist had been guilty of “unprofessional or immoral conduct.”
Id. at page 158.
See: Matter of Bell v. Board of Regents (1946), 295 N. Y. 101, 108, 65 N. E. 2d 184, 187, the court stating: “It has never
Sec. 450.11 (2), Wis. Stats., providing: “No person, firm or corporation shall publish, distribute or circulate any circular, card, advertisement or notice of any kind offering or advertising any indecent article for sale, nor shall exhibit or display any indecent article to the public.”
Sec. 450.11 (1), Wis. Stats., provides: “As used in this chapter, the term ‘indecent articles’ means any drug, medicine, mixture, preparation, instrument, article or device of whatsoever nature used or intended or represented to be used to procure a miscarriage or prevent pregnancy.”
Sec. 450.11 (5), Wis. Stats., provides: “Any person, firm or corporation violating this section shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500 or imprisoned for not to exceed 6 months, or both.”
Reference
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- Osco Drug, Inc., and Another, Respondents, v. Pharmacy Examining Board, Appellant
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- 3 cases
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- Published