Instead of dispensing a doctor-prescribed eye drops, a pharmacist assistant of Mercury Drugs gave ear drops to Judge Raul De Leon. As a result, the judge felt “searing pain” when he applied the ear drops to his left eye. Should Mercury Drug Corporation and the pharmacist assistant be held liable for damages?
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
Yes. “Druggists must exercise the highest practicable degree of prudence and vigilance, and the most exact and reliable safeguards consistent with the reasonable conduct of the business, so that human life may not constantly be exposed to the danger flowing from the substitution of deadly poisons for harmless medicines.”
In dismissing Mercury Drug’s claim that De Leon’s own failure to read the label in the drug was the proximate cause of his injury, the Supreme Court ruled that in the purchase and sale of drugs, “the buyer and seller do not stand at arm’s length. There exists an imperative duty on the seller or the druggist to take precaution to prevent death or injury to any person who relies on one’s absolute honesty and peculiar learning.” The Court thus held that customers depend on the expertise and experience of druggists in dispensing the right medicine.
“It is generally recognized that the drugstore business is imbued with public interest. This can not be more real for Mercury Drug, the country’s biggest drugstore chain. This Court can not tolerate any form of negligence which can jeopardize the health and safety of its loyal patrons,” the Court concluded. (GR No.165622, Mercury Drug Corporation v. De Leon, October 17, 2008).
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