Hamilton pharmacist guilty of incorrectly labelling drugs loses name suppression

The Waikato pharmacist found guilty of professional misconduct was Simon Cooper. Photo / File

A Hamilton pharmacist sanctioned and fined $35k for five serious charges including incorrectly labelling medication can today be named.

Simon Cooper was found guilty for leaving methadone unlocked and available on a counter, abandoning the pharmacy unattended by a pharmacist on a number of occasions, mislabelling prescriptions and not signing for them, failing to observe incorrect instructions that had been included on a label and asking colleagues to lie for him.

He was granted interim name suppression at the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing in March but today that ruling has lapsed.

As a result of the hearing Cooper was condemned from his practice with conditions added.

He was also ordered to pay $35,400 as contribution costs to the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the Pharmacy Council, who laid the charge, and the tribunal.

Cooper was also charged with taking money from the till but tribunal chairman David Carden
said it was a matter to be resolved between Cooper and his employer, rather than the tribunal to consider.

However, the fact the pharmacist left the premises at various times for 10 minutes or longer, and asked colleagues to "cover" for him to his employers, was contrary to the Pharmacy Council's code of ethics, Carden said.

The incident involving Cooper dispensing the wrong medication, also amounted to malpractice and negligence.

At the time of the hearing counsel for the PCC, Anita Miller, said the pharmacist's conduct "fell seriously short of acceptable", breached the code of conduct for pharmacists, and amounted to professional misconduct.

His actions justified a penalty to protect the public and maintain professional standards, she said.