More Walgreens customers sue over insults on their prescription printouts

By Missy Stoddard
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 23, 2006

Less than a month after a Palm Beach woman sued Walgreens for labeling
her CrAzY!!" and "psycho" in its nationwide computer system, two more
Floridians have come forward with similar allegations.

A Palm Beach Gardens grandmother, 64, filed suit Wednesday, accusing the
retail chain of negligent supervision and intentional infliction of
emotional distress for typing in its system in May 2003: "WATCH CONTROLS
SHE SEEMS SHADY."

For nearly 20 years, Elizabeth Noah has patronized the Fairway Drive
Walgreens near her home in PGA National, she said. So when the retired
United Technologies financial analyst picked up a prescription for
anxiety medication the evening of Feb. 6, she began to cry when she read
the notation on the Drug Utilization Review -- or DUR -- stapled to the bag.

"It hurt my feelings so bad," she said. "I'm always nice. I've been
going there forever. I've had secret clearance [at work] and never even
had parking tickets. I'm always dressed nicely and have my makeup on and
my hair done. I was raised that your reputation goes with you everywhere."

The other Walgreens pharmacy customer, Erin Cutler, 30, and a married
mother of three who lives outside Ocala, was shocked when she saw that
her Walgreens DUR labeled her a "b----." Also alleging negligence and
intentional infliction of emotional distress, Cutler is filing suit
today in Marion County against pharmacist Bruce D. Adams and Walgreens.
The initials B.D.A. are typed next to the Oct. 20 entry. Adams on
Wednesday referred questions to the Walgreen Co.'s Deerfield, Ill.
corporate office.

The DUR is an internal program, accessible to pharmacists and pharmacy
technicians, according to Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively. The
nationwide chain's 5,122 stores -- 677 in Florida -- are connected via
satellite and each location has access to the information stored in the
system, the lawsuits state.

Palm Beach resident Janey Karp, who takes medication for depression and
anxiety, filed suit against Walgreens on March 7, after being labeled
crazy and psycho.

"The purpose of the notes field [in the DUR] is to help our patients by
entering information related to customer service preferences or
insurance," Hively said. "Personal or uncomplimentary comments about a
patient is a totally inappropriate use of the notes field. This should
never have occurred. We take patient concerns very seriously and have
apologized to Ms. Karp. We are reiterating our policies with pharmacy
staff and have launched an investigation into this matter."

Walgreens has never apologized to Karp, according to Lake Worth attorney
Cathy Lively, who represents all three plaintiffs. Noah and Cutler
contacted Lively after reading about Karp's case.

Since Karp's case made national news, Lively said she has been flooded
with calls and e-mails from Walgreens customers reporting similar
experiences across the country.

"It's certainly not an anomaly. It cannot be, there are way too many,"
she said.

Like her three clients, Lively said most people who contacted her were
on medication for anxiety or depression.

For years, Cutler patronized Walgreens when filling prescriptions for
anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder as well as birth-control pills,
she said. When she refilled her contraceptives on Nov. 7, the DUR was
attached to the bag. Reading the slur prompted a panic attack, she said.

"I started crying and I ran to the drawer to get a pill to calm down,"
she said. "I talked to my psychiatrist. All my fears came out.
Everything I always thought came out -- that nobody likes me and
everybody talks about me."

Initially too embarrassed and humiliated to confront anyone about it,
Cutler said she avoided the store where the entry was made. Then in
February her doctor called in a prescription to the store, but it would
be weeks before Cutler could get it because the pharmacy repeatedly told
her they didn't have it, according to the lawsuit. When Cutler finally
went into the store on March 14 she discovered that the initials B.D.A.
were those of head pharmacist Adams. She confronted Adams, she said, but
he told her someone must have used his initials to somehow log into the
system.

"But then he admitted that you needed a password to get in ... and he
blew me off and walked away," said Cutler, who now uses another pharmacy
chain. "This is the pharmacy that America trusts, that's their slogan.
The trust is gone. It shrunk me down and took away some of the work I've
put into [managing] my illness."

Missy Stoddard can be reached at mstoddard@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5505.

Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pwalgreens23mar23,0,5994
094.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines