Pharmacy Had No Duty to Warn Patient of Metoclopramide Risks, Mont. Federal Judge Rules

BILLINGS, Mont. — A Department of Veterans pharmacy is not liable to a plaintiff who was diagnosed with tardive dyskinesia after taking generic Reglan for seven years, a Montana federal judge has ruled in an issue of first impression, finding the patient’s doctor, not the pharmacy, bore the duty to warn of this risk.

On May 1, Senior Judge Richard Cebull adopted the holding of other jurisdictions that “a pharmacist has no duty to warn a patient, or to contact the prescribing health care provider regarding a prescription, unless the pharmacist has knowledge of a patient-specific risk associated with the …