Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza handed down his long-awaited order last month in the case of the Arkansas State Medical Board and doctors who want to sell prescription drugs out of their offices.
As expected, he ruled in favor of the doctors, which will make it easier for them to sell prescriptions.
“It is a great victory for patients. Now, they will have a choice,” Sam Perroni, an attorney for Dr. Dana Carol Abraham of Little Rock, said in an email to Whispers
Abraham challenged the Medical Board’s policy limiting the dispensing of prescription drugs at doctors’ offices.
Piazza found that the board’s “showing of need” language contained in the statute is vague and ambiguous. He ruled that the board can’t require doctors to “show a need” to obtain the permit to sell medications.
Piazza ruled from the bench in October, but it took until Jan. 17 to get the order in writing.
In the meantime, the Arkansas Medical Society passed a resolution urging the board not to appeal the order when it was handed down.
The board’s attorney, William Trice of Little Rock, was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
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