Wright v. Jeckle

¶1

Chambers, J.

We are asked today to decide whether RCW 19.68.010 is an “antikickback” statute or an antiprofit statute. We conclude the legislature intended to prohibit kickbacks, not profits. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court.1

FACTS

¶2 Since the early 1980s, Dr. Milan Jeckle has operated a Spokane Valley medical clinic. He often dispensed, at a profit, a prescription drug combination commonly known as “fen-phen”2 to patients seeking to lose weight. These patients included plaintiffs Karen Wright, Rosa Lee Johnson, and Karla Seastrom. Fen-phen has since been associated with significant…