Lawsuits Over Walgreens’ Inappropriate Pharmacy Comments Continue
Posted by Mentally Interesting on March 25, 2006
About a month ago 53 year old Janey Karp picked up her Ambien prescription from her local Walgreens. Printed on the Drug Utilization Review – or DUR stapled to her prescription bag were notes from the store’s pharmacists: “CrAzY!! She’s really a psycho!!! Do not say her name too loud, never mention her meds by names…”
Karp initiated a lawsuit against Walgreens. Now two other women, 64 year old grandmother Elizabeth Noah and 30 year old Erin Cutler (comments were “WATCH CONTROLS SHE SEEMS SHADY” and “bitch”, respectively) have filed similar lawsuits.
These notes were accessible to all pharmacy workers at each of the 5,000+ Walgreens in the United States.
Attorney Cathy Lively represents all three plantiffs. Since taking on these cases her office has been flooded with calls and emails from Walgreens customers across the country who have had similar experiences. Lively says that, like her clients, most people contacting her were filling prescriptions for medications treating depression or anxiety.
Article in the Sun-Sentinel
Thanks to the Consumerist
Barbara said
I am not suprised. I worked for two different pharmacy chains. It’s all the same.
gen said
holy crap..wonder what they would say about me:
“watch for the short little tattooed girl who talks to herself half of the time and dances if lionel richie comes on the speakers…”
dementia said
Jesus! That’s awful and so insensitive. The person writing those notes should be fired.
so57 said
I have a situation similar with Walmart pharmacy. Because of the meds I take for a broken arm and last year a broken foot one of their pharmacist sent to all of our local pharmacies and all of the specialists I use that I had excessive Rx’s and used a lot of different doctors (all specialists my Gp sent me to) I found out by seeing the letter in one of my charts at my orth. sur. dr and I have 2 pharmacists that have treated me like dirt. I wonder if I have a lawsuit? I have tried to write and call Walmart and their dis. mgr said he would call me back on Thurs after he could not get a clear cell signal and he still hasn’t called me back. These pharmacists and all of their staff have made me feel like a criminal.
George said
Oh get over it. Everyone who works at a pharmacy is entitled to their own opinion. The fact that your self esteem depends on other peoples opinions says enough about you. Besides, if a pharmacist called your doctors to make sure your prescritions were legit. its for your own health. Maybe they didn’t want you to abuse medicines, because its BAD for you…. If they treated you like dirt the pharmacy would have let you get all your scripts filled with no problem because its more money for them. Think about it..
DENISE- PHARMD said
Well, talk about wierd, I was on clinical rotation at a CVS when I looked at my own profile. It had BITCH, BITCH,BITCH written all over the notes area. I was not only shocked, but angry. What right does any pharmacy personel have to deface my record with their own remarks? If I had had any RX’s filled at any other CVS, this message would have appeared, and the person taking care of me would have a pre-conceived notion of me and my customer service would have been poor. It is up to the pharmacist to determine for herself if the person at the counter is nice or not. It is not up to individuals to determine this themselves. Had I known better, I would have printed my file, left it alone, and hired an attorney. I will tell you, I will never step foot in a CVS again. Once my pharmacy rotation was over, I vowed not to do that to others. I will tell you to SUE, SUE, SUE if this happens to you. This is defamation of character in the purest of forms, and if you let it happen without punity, it will continue on.
SO57 said
I was the one with the walmart problem. I don’t think it is an esteem problem when a pharmacy is full of customers and a pharmacist looks at your script and says in a loud voice-”NOPE, too many doctors and scripts” and hands it back to you, or when another pharmacist threatens you with the DEA because the dr gave you low dose vicodin for night and darvocette for the day so you can still function. I think the pharmacists are on a “power trip” and when you have broken both bones in your arm, compressed them together, and broke your foot on the outside and deeply sprained it on the inside, I think it DOES require more than a couple of aspirin. My esteem was more about the strangers all around me that heard these comments without knowing the full story.
Fabio said
They did they to me while I worked for them. The pharmacy employees think they know everything. That’s cause their mostly all high on meds that they feeding themselves whiling working. I got terminated because I used to catch them stealing and they would get away with it. They never report anything
Hannah said
I just found this post, I can not believe what I have read. I suffer from anxiety and depression. It is genetic for me on both sides of my family, so there was no hope for me. My doctor prescribed Zoloft for me, and I am able to feel normal on it. The pharmacists that each of you have mentioned sound incredibly ignorant and I am confused as to why they are still working in the places. Thought Walgreens does not surprise me at all. Any Walgreens I have ever visited has always had rude staff. I found a better way to get my prescribtion. I use international online pharmacies. This way it is private and comes right to my door. So much easier this way.
Withheld said
I used to work in a pharmacy several years ago. Let me tell you, it’s true. The comments I used to see were absolutely deplorable. Examples ranged from a simple “weirdo”, to excessively long descriptions about the customer being “a crazy psycho b*tch on c2’s”. Some of the comments were even placed there directly by the pharmacists.
I always removed these comments whenever I found them on a customer’s profile.
Sadly enough, the management never responded when I brought it to their attention. It seemed as if it was no big deal. Employees who are responsible for those comments should be reprimanded.
Milty said
After reading some of the posts I have to give some responses.
As a pharmacy student I have seen many things that go on in retail pharmacy and as such I think I have a clearer picture of what really happens, and what most people understand.
First, to SO57, its not anything personal on the part of the pharmacy that they are questioning your prescription, they are questioning it because you are raising a number of red flags. Beleive me most pharmacies are so strapped for time the last thing they want to do is take the time to verify a controlled substance. Keep in mind that as pharmacists the DEA can come after us as well and take our licenses. We can’t just ignore signs which commonly point towards fraudulent prescriptions.
Second, people do not wind up with the words “crazy” on their profile because of the medications they are taking. More people in this country take some form of psychotropic drugs than you would ever imagine. Beleive me the people with these comments on their profile have earned them by their actions in the pharmacy. I have a friend that had a customer try to run him down with her car in the parking lot because her Rx was not ready on time, I have had things thrown at me, and I have been screamed at by people who probably consider themselves mature adults because their insurance does not cover their medication and yet they only want to take brand. Now I know that I don’t understand what someone is going through, and that is fine. I agree that sometimes when people are sick it can be a frustrating time. Does this then give them the right to act abusively towards those around them? If I am at work and I feel under the weather do I throw things at patients? There does have to be a middle ground here.
Finally, your pharmacist is a highly educated individual that may someday save your life without you ever knowing that they caught that interaction that could have sent you to the hospital. They found that oddly high dose given to your child and alerted the physician to their blunder so your kid did not end up in the hospital. I guess what I am trying to say is that we are not cashiers.
Ne Cede Malis said
I agree with you Milt!
Except for the last part… That pretty much generalized all cashiers as being stupid, and unable to function with any kind of complex thought.
M. Smith said
I have to say that in those rare instances when a person tries to run someone over with a car, there may be some mental instability involved, however; most cases are pharmacists on a power trip questioning well trained and educated DOCTORS, whose education and training far surpases those of any pharmacist I have ever heard of. If this were not the case, then the pharmacist would have an MD after their name and instead of counting pills, they would be prescribing them. I find it insulting that a pharmacist or even an insurance company would second guess a LEGITIMATE prescription given to a patient by a licensced physician. After all, would a pharmacist appreciate it if the janitor told him how to do his/her job?
Laurena Van Kirk said
I have problems with one Walgreen’s (actually more than one, but this was the worst)when a zero refill occured. I am bi-polar, and I didn’t realize i had a zero refill. I went on a Saturday on a 3 day holiday weekend and they said I would have to wait until Tuesday (for a mood stabailizer). I said my doctor said that if this happened again you should provide me with an emergency supply, she looked at me like I was a junkie.She saaid that she would fill an old prescriotion for me with a lower dosage, I said that’s fine. The pharmacist refused to fill it. So I waited until Tuesday, by then I was feeling very rocky. It was showing at work, and at home. I wasn’t sleeping. When I went to pick up the refill that night (after they were going to call), they told me the docotor was thinking about it (they were confused on what dosage I wanted). The tech made a big scene. The phamacist then asked me why I was taking the medicine, “Is this for seizures?” I said,”No, I’m Bi-polar, it’s a mood stabalizer and I also take it for pain for my MS. She in a horrible tone said, “Sighhhhh, the most I can do is give you one dose, and you will have to wiat for your doctor to approve this”. I said “what if she is out of the office it’s a holiday weekend? “She said there is nothing I can do”. I started to cry because everyone in line was staring at me like I was a crazy person…a junkie. By the time I get it filled, I was a mess and was not functioning at work. I should also mention that my father is in his last days, end stage cancer. Who is Walgreens to decide that only a seizure disorder is worth treating. I have MS and she doesn’t know my history with my mental illness. Let’s say I attempted suicide because I am not on my meds and I don’t have a seizure disorder….Walgreens needs to train their pharmacy staff how to treat people!
JAROB said
This same thing happened when pharmacists were dispensing the nicotine gum and patches. If you got a script filled you were looked at with distrust like an addict. Now it is all over the counter and knowing the way the pharmacists are nothing but wanna be doctors who couldn’t pass medical school exams it just goes to show how we need to revamp our pharmaceutical industry in this country. These pharmacists didn’t make it to medical school for a reason. Lately I have seen pharmacists that I would label “crazy” and instead of their profile on computer maybe we need to contact their supervisors and advise them that a lawyer will be following up on this.
works11 said
I just found out that my walmart pharmacist faxed and sent a letter to every pharmacy and doctor in my town saying that I was doctor shopping and to deny my services. I asked for a copy and the pharmacist had mysteriously lost it. I saw a copy of the letter through one of my physicians. I have a rare disease and every doctor I was seeing I was REFERRED by my general physician.I have the proof through the insurance company who approved this for a rheumatologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist and orthopedic surgeon. My condition requires all of these specialists. Now I have a slur on my character and I didn’t do anything wrong. My doctor that showed me this said they weren’t worried because they knew I had been referred to them. How dare Walmart? I now use another pharmacy away from here and I am having to explain to my doctors since the pharmacist was kind enough to send this to every doctor on file I had. To all of you trying to defend pharmacists, don’t tell me they would rather avoid this, a phone call to my GP would have solved all of this. I am not going to every pharmacy since this crazy pharmacist (yes, pharmacists can be crazy too!) decided to play judge, jury and executioner all in one. I am seriouly contemplating a lawsuit since everyone in this town knows everyone else and I have been unjustly slandered. So George, it isn’t an esteem issue and I think you must be linked to the pharmacy industry. Are you a pharmacist on a big ego trip? Must be with the sarcasm I read in your comment. Yes drugs are bad but so are pharmacists overstepping their bounds and feeling threatened.
robin said
I am not sure why some of the posters are saying that pharmacists aren’t mds. The ones I know went to school for 6 years and DO have doctorates.
works11 said
I understand that 6 years equals a masters degree and 8 years equals a doctorate. The principal at my kids school is a doctor. Pharmacists DO NOT rotate through the different fields in the hospital as thoroughly as a true MD. From what I have seen, pharmacist trainees have a choice to either complete a difficult chemistry class or take a class that an autopsy is observed and they usually opt for anything other than the autopsy! That is why they have no right to second guess an md.
Milty said
M. Smith
In response to your post, I am a pharmacist, and my title is DOCTOR! I spent for years learning medications, specifically medications, Physicians spend 2 semesters. Physicians are more rigorously trained in diagnosis of illness, and general medications for treatment of said illness. That being said, they are often very poor when it comes to other specifics related to drugs, falling back on information provided by drug sales reps. I can tell you that I have many times provided prescribing advice to physicians that have called asking for help, as well as contacting physicians who have written inappropriate doses or directions. Finally Mr. Smith, as long as you continue to provide me with a clean toilet to crap in, I will appreciate anything you have to say.
Works11- observing an autopsy is of no benefit to a pharmacist, but the chemistry class, or more specifically medicinal chemistry is actually very critical to understanding drug therapy. It provides alot of the reasoning why certain drugs are taken with or without food, or why drugs interact. Try not to think of it as a class in which you mix chemicals to change to colors of solutions or some other basic crap, but rather a study of drug structure that makes organic chemistry seem like a cake-walk. Once again I am not questioning the physicians diagnosis, he knows your body better than I would ever want to (I am not sticking my finger there). But when it comes to drug therapy, I am fairly confident that I have the upper hand.
Finally (sorry for the long post) Believe it or not insurance companies employ both physicians and pharmacists that make the decisions causing your insurance company to deny payment for certain medications and treatments.
R. Denn said
Wow, there are a lot of great points here. Mainly by the patients and not by the pharmacists or students.
I to have had numerous bad experiences at Walgreens. I came in for a refill and the pharmacist said I have no refills remaining. I knew this was bogus. I had to go home and somehow dig up the receipt showing refills remaining. Instead of apologizing she said I thought you couldn’t find the old receipt. And she said Oh yeah I do see this on your profile. She always gave me problems because I did call the district manager on her. I do not patronize Walgreens anymore. The district manager said there was a comment on my profile about early refills, watch out. I never filled any refill early. She said my doctor told them to put that comment on my profile. I flat out asked my doctor whom I have seen for twelve years and he said he never told them to put anything on my profile. Most pharmacists at Walgreens are horrible, but I will say every now and then you get a good one.
Amy M said
I can see both sides of this issue.
Do I think it’s right for anyone working in a pharmacy to put comments in a patients file that judges the patient’s character? Of course not. Especially since, as someone else pointed out, when someone isn’t feeling well, he or she is often in a crabby mood and may be bitchy to the techs, cashiers, or anyone for that matter.
As for pharmacists “second guessing” doctors, that is part of their job–even though that isn’t exactly what they are doing. Each doctor someone has may not be aware of each med a customer is taking–especially a patient with multiple problems resulting in multiple doctors. As for the patient who was accused of “doctor shopping”, there are, unfortunately, customers who do that. Those few idiots will cause problems which make it necessary for pharmacists to watch for patterned behavior. I guess that falls under one bad apple spoiling it for the others.
Before anyone says otherwise–no, I am not a pharmacist, a tech or anything—-just someone who can see both sides of the matter.
Idetrorce said
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
works11 said
As far as having to second guess about doctor shopping, I think the pharmacists should have to BY LAW research the situation and determine whether or not that is the case. That is a strong accusation and we are having to count on their judgment instead of facts. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch and in this case the bad apple was the pharmacist in my view. They have way too much authority and I am taking my situation up with a lawyer.
Woohoo said
Well, I worked with a pharmacist one time that questioned a doctor because of the high dose of antibiotic given to a child and the doctor yelled at him and said he doesn’t MD after his name so he shouldn’t question her. Well low and behold the mother was so suprise when we gave her the medication because she thought it was suprisingly strong and contacted the doctor herself to ask her about it, it turns out the doctor was wrong and never even apologized to the pharmacist.
bbb said
Woohoo, that tell me that doctor is not good. Consider changing the doctor.
the Pharmacist’s job is to catch those errors (everybody makes mistakes).
Pharmacist’s are trained in school on how much medication to give to patient.
Doctor’s aren’t the only that knows how much med to give.
that is so unprofessional of that doctor to yell at a pharmacist.
Pharmacist aren’t high-paid cashier as some people thinks.
Milty said
Bbb, its nice to see that some people do appreciate what our profession has to offer. I will say that it is not always a situation with bad docs. Like us, they can be without the full story and thus make ill-informed decisions. I often see ER docs write for meds that interact with current patient meds, or to which the patient is allergic. Patients do not always provide all the necessary information with this regard, which may simply be because they are stressed and forget. I do not beleive that anyone goes into pharmacy or medicine with the intention of being bad at what they do, its just that we are all human and thus make errors.
One more point that I would like to once again make, and this is from a pharmacists perspective. In a given day I may fill about 50 scripts for controlled substances including vicodin, xanax, morphine and whatever else you can name. 99.9% of the time I review the information to see that everything is correct. Check the patients profile to make sure that medication use is appropriate (ie the are getting a new script for 150 vicodin, which has a max dose of 8 tabs per day, did they just get 150 tablets last week?), as is my professional duty. The tech fills the med, and I verify that it has been filled correctly. I probably will not even see the patient that picks the medication up. That being said, I must make this point crystal clear…. Unless you are dealing with an overly paranoid pharmacist ( which may happen), you have to raise a number of red flags in order to for me to begin to investigate things further. There have to be a number of red flags for a pharmacist to question the legality of a prescription…and I don’t care what you think of it, these items are spelled out in both state and federal laws. And maybe you are just unlucky, but consider that it does look mighty suspicious when you show up at a pharmacy miles away from your house, with a script from an out of state physician who is miles away from both pharmacy for a very large quantity of narcotics, have never filled a script at my pharmacy before….and finally want to pay cash. For those who are confused by the last point..when someone gets meds through insurance it creates a claim record, so if I bill vicodin to the insurance, they will tell me when it was last filled even if it was at another pharmacy. Paying cash eliminates that central record that other recent transactions have occurred. So finally to restate my point…You are not being singled out because pharmacists are watching you…you are being singled out because you have done MULTIPLE things a good pharmacist SHOULD be watching for. But what do I know, I have only done 8 years of post-secondary schooling, and I am after all…just a cashier.
MILTY
PS. I guess if you really beleive that I am a cashier, can I at least have the liability of one? I mean if someone gives you the wrong change or forgets a coupon you don’t sue right? Well unless you want to release me of any liability for giving you the wrong meds…Don’t think of me as a cashier or treat me like one.
Pharmacotherapy Specialist said
I am a Clinical Pharmacist and I work in a hospital. I would like to say that I, too, agree that the comments on the patient profiles were inappropriate. Not all pharmacists act that way. In fact, not all pharmacists spend their days counting pills and sticking labels on bottles. I haven’t dispensed any meds in years, except in the case of a cardiac arrest in which I quickly prepare the life saving drugs right there on the spot.
Pharmacists are members of the team that is led by a physician, just as a respiratory therapist is a member of the team. Study after study shows that patients having their medications managed by highly trained Clinical Pharmacists have as good or better outcomes than patients having their meds managed by physicians.
Pharmacists may go beyond the minimum that is required to obtain licensure and do Pharmacy Residencies and gain Board Certification. I have done this, and am a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist. What does that mean? I am a certified expert in pharmacotherapy. What does that do for me? Well, in some states, that gives me prescriptive authority. At my hospital, MDs come to me to find out what they should prescribe.
It may surprise you to find that most hospitals have certain drugs that MUST be managed by a pharmacist. A 2008 Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations Patient Safety Goal is that ALL anticoagulation meds(blood thinning meds) MUST managed by a PHARMACIST. Why? Because pharmacists have proven that they are better at drug therapy management than most physicians.
I am not trying to say that MDs are less educated or don’t know what they are doing. They are highly educated and trained in managing all aspects of patient care. However, Clinical Pharmacists have expert knowledge in optimizing drug therapy.
I understand that there are some bad apples out there, just as in any profession. But please do not lump all pharmacists into that category. And just like in the medical profession, there are those in the pharmacy profession that do the bare minimum just to get licensed.
reader said
Pharmacists are not on “power kicks,” and they certainly don’t enjoy having to spend extra time calling to check on a script for whatever reason…it’s their job, and their licenses/their livelyhood depend on it!!! If you’re feeling “singled out” or that you’re being “picked on,” you’ve probably given the pharmacist a good reason to double-check the validity of a script! Just let the pharmacists do their jobs & stop being paranoid! Also, I work for a large pharmacy chain, and doctors do make MANY mistakes. MANY of them know MUCH LESS than the pharmacists when it comes to knowledge of drugs!!! So, my advice is to trust your pharmacist, and always ask the doctor what he’s prescribing and why, how the drug is to be taken, etc, as it seems many people think doctors are GOD and know everything. Yeah, right!
Dr. Nikos Kanakas said
Hi
It is a very nice and good post and I like it.
Walgreens Employee said
Yeah i do this all the time and i love it.. and if the fucking customer wasnt an ass hole then maybe they would put all the shit up… i support it 1000%.. i do it and will still do it.. i tell all my co-workers here comes the Physco B ITCH or here comer the big lips wanna be ANGELINA JOLIE.. or giver that female dog her PROZAC.. ha ha . bunch oh loser.. just remember to TREAT people they way u want to be treated.. the customer prob treat the PHARMACY staff like shit and that why they write all the stuff.. ja ja.
Klark said
Hi
Jesus!
I wonder if Scientology took over the pharmacies if they would get away with not prescibing psychotropics.
FuchJell said
A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.–Bertrand de Jouvenal (1903-1987), French political theorist
Nasir | Discount Pharmacy said
It’s horrible.
Moo said
Milty
NO one is saying that all pharmacists are difficult megalomaniacs. Just a few as was previously stated, like any other profession. If you doubt it just ask anyone who has to take narcotics long term. As for calling pharmacists DOCTOR…it is correct, technically, but in this culture it’s usually reserved for MDs.
Do you think your education elevates your status as a human being above others? That’s the way it comes off. Your academic accomplishment is wonderful and something to be proud of, but don’t forget how narrow your field of pharmacological knowledge is either. Respect others, including those who clean the toilets so that you may take a dump in a clean restroom. They are more equal to you than you seem to think.
ANNA said
Find a good, Indian pharmacy, that ships straight to your door. You dont have to deal with feeling criminal, you’ll just be one.