2023-09-05 04:44:15
While the sale of medications on the Internet is exploding across Canada, the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec (OPQ) takes seriously the confusion it creates among the public between technology companies and pharmaceutical services. Pharmacist Sonia Boutin admitted last Wednesday to having contravened her code of ethics by promoting her services through the online platform Medzy, of which she and Investissement Québec are shareholders.
The manager pleaded guilty to four counts framed by article 103 of the Code of ethics of pharmacists, which relates in particular to “false, misleading or likely to mislead the public”. The disciplinary council must still ratify the joint recommendation of the parties, namely fines totaling $12,500.
The complaints accepted by the Order accuse Mme Boutin for broadcasting advertisements for its services on the Medzy website, on its social networks, in promotional documents and through Bonjour-santé without clearly indicating that the pharmaceutical procedures were in fact carried out by Pharmacie Sonia Boutin inc. “There is a mixture of genres” which can be “misleading” and “create confusion” for the public, argued the assistant union representative responsible for the file, Karine Coupal.
IMAGE TAKEN FROM A SCREENSHOT, THE PRESS
Example of Medzy deemed non-regulatory by the Order of Pharmacists of Quebec
In the documents filed as evidence, the mention “Pharmacy Sonia Boutin” did not appear or only in small print in Medzy’s communications. “Is there a pharmacist behind all this? asked M.me Coupal. We do not know. We can believe that it is Medzy who will deliver the drugs to us. »
The faults accused of Mme Boutin runs from 2019 to 2022.
At the hearing, the trustee emphasized that she had not observed any changes in Medzy’s practices during “the months, the years” that the investigation lasted, despite “several email exchanges.”
It was ultimately following a telephone conversation last July, less than two months before Wednesday’s hearing, that Mme Boutin made the corrections required by the Order. Regarding this delay, the businesswoman explained that she had difficulty understanding the exact requests of the Order, to which she said she had to send more than 9,000 documents.
Risks of recurrence
Mme Boutin has no disciplinary history, but she already received a warning in 2016 in a poster and file. She attributes this event to a “lack of knowledge” when she had just left the Jean Coutu brand in favor of her own independent network of pharmacies.
According to the OPQ, Mme Boutin presents a considerable risk of recidivism; the Medzy company is “in full expansion” and the pharmacist should have had “a good knowledge of the code of ethics”, having been a member of the Bar for several years. “But I dare to believe that she moved forward and that she took the investigation and the disciplinary process seriously,” declared union member Karine Coupal.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Pharmacist Sonia Boutin, founder of the telepharmacy platform Medzy
“I intend to comply at all times” with article 103, assured Mme Boutin at the end of the hearing, adding that the pharmacy regulatory framework is faced with “new practices”.
Medzy is the main telepharmacy platform in Quebec and one of the largest in Canada. The company purchased its competitor POSO+ in February 2021 to increase its number of users to 10,000.
In the fall of the same year, Medzy received $750,000 from Investissement Québec as part of the PME Impulsion program. “Thanks to automation, the Medzy platform allows pharmacists to free up time and interact more with patients. This is exactly the kind of initiative for the future that our government wants to see created,” declared Lucie Lecours, Minister for the Economy.
Last July, an investigation by The Press revealed that several online pharmacy services in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada were operating in Quebec in legal limbo and cutting corners when it came to ethics. These services maintain confusion among the public between the technology companies and the health professionals who perform the reserved acts.
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