A Whitehorse pharmacist is fighting a decision that would see his licence suspended.

Gennadi Gouniavyi filed a court appeal in September of findings from a board of inquiry appointed under the Pharmacists Act. It recommended, among other things, that his licence be suspended for four weeks.

The board was appointed to investigate a complaint made against Gouniavyi on May 5, 2016.

In August 2017, it found Gouniavyi guilty of “improper misconduct” for 14 admitted errors made while dispensing medication to patients.

Gouniavyi “does not understand the seriousness of medication errors and has not taken steps to work with the pharmacy team to prevent any further occurrence,” it said.

The board also noted that “being distracted in a busy dispensary and assuming without clarification is a common problem.”

It also made recommendations to the Registrar of Pharmacists under the Department of Community Services.

Along with the licence suspension, it recommended a second independent investigation be conducted into a number of reporting inconsistencies that were beyond its scope.

This investigation should be conducted on site, it said, to confirm or deny issues with narcotic inventory and appropriate dispensary practices.

The department accepted the board’s recommendations and noted it was working on finding an inspector.

Earlier this month, documents were filed with the court that detail the allegations outlined in the complaint. Those that identify the third-party patient behind the complaint have been sealed.

The complaint claims a total of 63 incidents involving medication errors and 12 examples of pharmacy misconduct.

These include claims that the wrong medications were being dispensed and in improper quantities, and that blister pack medications were incomplete or had errors.

It says patient confidentiality was also breached when patients received medication intended for other patients.

The complaint further alleges the mishandling of returned narcotics and that improper narcotics medications and quantities were being dispensed.

These errors were not documented, it adds, and no action plans were initiated to prevent the errors from recurring.

It also claims there were efforts to conceal or destroy evidence of errors.

Finally, the complaint claims that Gouniavyi violated protocols in dispensing narcotics by shorting quantities to rectify counts, and that he was unable to do calculations, read instructions or handle medication errors.

If Gouniavyi’s licence is suspended, he would have to meet a number of criteria to be eligible for reinstatement.

These include completing at least two “appropriate courses” recommended by the board and providing the registrar with a written statement on policies he would follow to prevent future medication errors.

As well, he would have to write a letter of reflection detailing how he has changed practices in response to the complaint.

Gouniavyi would also be subject to a practice review by the registrar within six months of reinstatement.