INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three Indiana pharmacists have been reprimanded by state regulators for trying to access Prince’s medical records within days of the music superstar’s death last year. The Indiana Board of Pharmacy issued letters of reprimand in the last
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three Indiana pharmacists have been reprimanded by state regulators for trying to access Prince’s medical records within days of the music superstar’s death last year.
The Indiana Board of Pharmacy issued letters of reprimand in the last three months and imposed penalties on the three after investigators with the state attorney general’s office found they had tried separately to access Prince’s medical records in April 2016 through a state database.
Prince died April 21, 2016, of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl.
All three pharmacists were found to have misused Indiana’s online INSPECT database that pharmacists and physicians use to check controlled-substance prescription histories of patients.
Officials found that the pharmacists entered Prince’s legal name and date of birth into the database within nine days of his death to try to access his confidential records, even though they had not previously treated the musician who was from Minneapolis and lived in a suburb of that city.
The board issued a final order on Oct. 12 for Indianapolis pharmacist Katrina A. Kalb for attempting to access Prince’s medical records one day after his death. The panel did not fine her, but ordered her to complete 12 hours each of ethics education and community service.
On Sept. 15, the board fined Selma, Indiana, pharmacist Kimberly M. Henson $1,000 and ordered her to complete 12 hours of ethics education. The board found that Henson had tried twice to access the musician’s medical records.
The board gave Crown Point pharmacist Michael Eltzroth the same punishment and fine as Henson on Aug. 8 for a single attempt to access Prince’s records.
Attorneys for Kalb and Henson did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment Monday. A recording at a phone number listed for Eltzroth said the mailbox was not in service.
The attorney general’s office filed administrative complaints against the three in June and July, and the pharmacy board held its hearings after that.
Attorney general’s office spokesman Bill McCleery said complaints against medical professionals typically take the office between six and 12 months to investigate.
