NY attorney general invites price gouging complaints

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday invited the state’s residents to report any price gouging by stores facing shortages of painkillers and fever reducers for children.

The attorney general, a Democrat, issued a consumer alert amid a surge of cases of the coronavirus, RSV and the flu, urging anyone who spots gouging to report it to her office amid a national shortage of medication for youngsters.

“This year’s tripledemic is keeping many kids and babies sick at home, and families trying to care for them are confronting the national shortage of children’s Tylenol and other medication,” James said. “The last thing any family needs when a child spikes a fever or is in pain is to be price gouged on the medication they need.”

She said she was putting profiteers on notice that her office is ready to investigate any incidence of dramatic price increases.

She noted that New York law prohibits merchants from taking unfair advantage of consumers by setting unconscionably high prices for anything vital to the safety, health and welfare of state residents.

James also cautioned consumers to buy only as much children’s medication as they need and not to stockpile supplies that might be needed by others. Retailers, she added, are permitted to limit the amount of medication that they sell to individual consumers when there is limited supply.