BAILEY, J.
The Kolozsvaris claim that Branchfield and, through her, CVS were negligent in failing to warn Christine about possibly serious side effects and contraindications associated with her use of OsmoPrep stemming from her age, the amount of OsmoPrep prescribed, and her prescription history as known to CVS and Branchfield. For the same reasons, the Kolozsvaris also allege that CVS and Branchfield were negligent in filling Christine’s OsmoPrep prescription.
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During this period of growth in the role of pharmacists and pharmacies in health care, prior decisions of this court and our supreme court have recognized the contractual “relationship between pharmacist and customer as one that gives rise to a duty [of care]” in certain circumstances. Hooks SuperX, Inc. v. McLaughlin, 642 N.E.2d 514, 517 (Ind. 1994). Indiana statutes and regulations set forth some of the nature of the duty of care imposed upon pharmacists, although they do not of themselves give rise to such a duty. Id. at 518 (rejecting the “argument that the pharmacist’s duty arises by virtue of this statute alone”). While the provisions of the Indiana Code and Board of Pharmacy regulations do not give rise to a statutory duty of care, the Indiana Supreme Court has held that specific circumstances may give rise to a pharmacist’s duty to warn or withhold and that the Legislature’s policy concerns, as expressed in the statutes governing pharmacies and pharmacists, are central to determining when such a duty arises.
In McLaughlin, the court held that a pharmacist had a duty to withhold from a patient a narcotic medication that the pharmacist knew the patient had been refilling too quickly. Id. at 518. The pharmacist in McLaughlin learned of the refill rate from the pharmacy’s computer system, which provided him information about the rate at which McLaughlin was refilling the medication. Id. at 519. The McLaughlin court noted that a pharmacist has the statutory authority to refuse to honor a prescription where the pharmacist’s exercise of professional judgment leads him to conclude that a patient may be harmed. Id. at 518. The court recognized that there are many reasons that a patient “might have a prescription for a dangerous drug refilled at a rate unreasonably faster than that prescribed.” Id. But the public policy concerns as expressed by the Legislature in the statute—preventing pharmacists from aiding or abetting an addiction or habit or otherwise harming the health and safety of a patient—together with the pharmacist’s knowledge of the prescription history, imposed a duty upon the pharmacist to withhold refills of the drug. Id. (citing I.C. § 25-26-13-16).
The case before us falls within McLaughlin’s interpretation and application of Indiana Code section 25-26-13-16. Here, Christine was prescribed OsmoPrep and sought to fill her prescriptions at CVS. Branchfield received two separate warnings from CVS’s computers while filling the two prescriptions: one alerting her to the risk of kidney damage as a result of someone Christine’s age using OsmoPrep, the other alerting her to the risk of kidney damage as a result of the amount of OsmoPrep Christine had been prescribed and would use in a short period of time. In addition, the entire history of Christine’s prescription medications—including her ongoing use of Lisinopril, an ACE inhibitor that had been associated with a risk of kidney damage when used along with OsmoPrep—was maintained by and therefore was or should have been known to CVS and Branchfield. Finally, Christine informed a pharmacy technician at the CVS pharmacy while Branchfield was working that she had experienced unusual sensations, and expressed concern that these symptoms were related to her use of OsmoPrep. Just as in McLaughlin, where the pharmacist knew that McLaughlin’s refill of his prescriptions was unreasonably rapid and this should have alerted the pharmacist to the substance abuse issues likely associated with this behavior, here, Branchfield had information that gave rise to a duty to exercise professional judgment under the statute. In light of this evidence, we hold that CVS and Branchfield had a duty of care to Christine either to warn Christine of the side effects of OsmoPrep or to withhold the medication in accordance with Indiana Code section 25-26-13-16 and Pharmacy Board rule 1-33-2.
NAJAM, J., and DARDEN, J., concur.