This is quite interesting to me. This exact scenario happened to me 3 years ago. My insulin prescription expired and I ended up in DKA in the ICU for 5 days. Although this bill has some restrictions, it’s a step in the right direction.
This past week, Ohio legislators passed a bill authorizing pharmacists to fill expired prescriptions for some lifesaving medications, including insulin. The bill was partly in response to the 2014 death of an Ohio man with diabetes, Kevin Houdeshell, and was championed by his family.
The legislation would authorize an Ohio pharmacist to provide a refill of certain medications, even if a prescription has expired, if it is determined by the pharmacist that failure to fill the prescription would significantly impact the health of a patient. There are several caveats that were inserted into the bill:
A pharmacist must attempt to contact the medical provider who wrote the prescription.
He or she also must have the prescription previously on record.
The amount of drugs dispensed generally shouldn’t be more than what is needed to get someone through 72 hours, although it can be filled for up to 30 days.
The emergency refill can only be done once in a 12-month period.
Pharmacists will be barred from using this new power to refill expired prescriptions for some controlled substances