Although Toby was usually too busy to see injured athletes from the local high schools, he agreed to look at Rodney's knee injury. Rodney was the son of the county prosecutor who was a good friend of Toby's boss, the head football coach at the university. Under the circumstances, Toby wasn't sure how he could refuse.

Rodney arrived at the university's main athletic training room at noon. His dad had picked him up at school during the lunch break. Midway through his exam of Rodney's knee injury, Toby excused himself to answer the phone. "That's right," Toby said to the caller, "2,000 ibuprofenmake sure they are the 800-milligram strengthand 1,000 of that new antibiotic. When will they be delivered? OKsounds good. Thanks." Toby hung up the phone and returned to his examination of Rodney's knee. As Toby continued his exam, Mr. Simpson became concerned about the telephone conversation he had just overheard. He asked himself, was Toby ordering prescription drugs? Since he had caught only bits and pieces of the conversation, Mr. Simpson decided to leave it alone for the time being.

Three weeks later, Rodney and his dad were sitting in the front-row seats that the university football coach had provided for the big game against the conference rival. They had a fantastic view of both the field and the players' bench area from their 50-yard-line seats. During the game, Mr. Simpson clearly saw Toby reach into a trunk, pull out a bottle of pills, and give some to a player who appeared to be suffering from a painful injury. The memory of Toby's phone call three weeks earlier was still fresh in his mind. He decided that if Toby was involved in the distribution of prescription drugs, he would be forced to investigate.

On Monday, he called his friend, the coach, to thank him for the tickets. "While I've got you on the phone," Mr. Simpson said, "let me ask youdoes Toby hand out prescription drugs in the athletic training room?"

Mr. Simpson could feel the wall of caution that surrounded the coach's response. "Toby only gives out those medicines when our doctor tells him to," replied the coach. "Besides, he doesn't keep any strong drugs aroundjust a few anti-inflammatories and a few other things. That's the way it's done everywhere." Mr. Simpson thanked him again for the tickets and hung up. After calling a few of the players and asking them the same questions, he finally decided what he had to do.

A week later, the county sheriff walked into the athletic training room, impounded all the prescription drugs in the locker in Toby's office, and served Toby with a summons to appear before the local judge on charges of illegal possession of controlled substances, practicing medicine without a license, and practicing pharmacy without a license.

Questions for Analysis

2. Toby's actions were not inconsistent with the way that prescription medicines are handled in athletic training rooms all over the country. If Toby practiced in your state, would his actions have been illegal? Why or why not?
4. Develop a policy, with supporting processes and procedures, that addresses the use of prescription and nonprescription drugs in the university sports medicine program. As an appendix to the policy, attach the appropriate sections of your state's laws that address this issue.
6. Whom should Toby ask to help him defend himself in this situation? If the case eventually goes to court, what expert witnesses might he call on? What testimony would he want them to provide?