Former pharmacist Anita McQuig seeks reinstatement after 2021 revocation; committee hears testimony and financial hardship claim

Anita Bridal McQuig appeared March 12 before a disciplinary committee of the California Board of Pharmacy to seek reinstatement of a pharmacist license revoked in 2021.

Deputy Attorney General Nicole Trauma reviewed the underlying decision: following a board inspection at Fantastic Pharmacy, auditors found a shortage of promethazine with codeine. At the administrative hearing that followed, the Administrative Law Judge sustained allegations that McQuig provided false documentation and directed staff to create telephone prescriptions to support an inventory accounting; the ALJ found the petitioner’s testimony at the prior proceeding was “pervasively false and misleading” and recommended revocation, a recommendation the board adopted with an effective date of Aug. 18, 2021. The decision also assessed costs totaling $2,125,872.25, of which McQuig had paid $200.

Petitioner McQuig testified under oath and acknowledged mistakes relating to documentation provided to the inspector, expressed remorse, and said she had participated in counseling and continuing education since the revocation. Her counsel, Alan Knight, argued she had 30 years of prior practice without incident, described personal and financial hardship since the revocation, and asked the committee to grant reinstatement or to advise what would be required to move toward reinstatement.

Deputy AG Trauma told the committee the people opposed reinstatement, citing concerns that petitioner had not demonstrated sufficient rehabilitation: the record showed the ALJ’s findings of dishonesty and global incompetence with pharmacy law, and the prosecution noted the petition packet lacked an independent psychological evaluation or other third-party clinical documentation typically used to establish readiness to hold a license after findings of pervasive dishonesty. Trauma also noted the large outstanding costs and the small payment to date.

The hearing record included dispute over a letter in petitioner’s packet and testimony and exchanges about the circumstances that led McQuig to accept responsibility for documents created after the inspection. McQuig described having been a contract pharmacist who was asked to serve as pharmacist in charge at Fantastic Pharmacy shortly before the audit; she said she lacked experience with some of the store’s prior recordkeeping practices and has since completed ethics and other continuing-education work and counseling.

Board members questioned McQuig and counsel about whether she recognized that the ALJ’s prior findings concluded she had attempted to subvert the investigation, whether her conduct amounted to subverting the inspection, and about the effect of the revocation on her finances and employment since 2021.

At the close of argument the committee took the matter under submission for closed-session deliberation. No public decision was announced at the March 12 meeting; the committee will issue a written decision after deliberation.