PHARMACIST STEVE

Hi Steve! My name is xxxx.xxxxx and my attorney recommended that I reach out to you. I have had a horrific traumatizing experience recently with a Walgreens pharmacist. This went beyond refusal to fill a prescription and the pharmacist actually edited my Walgreens profile as well as flag my prescription. I have been using a different Walgreens consistently for 2+ years and seeing the same doctor who writes these prescriptions for me. However my local Walgreens was out of two of the three medications I desperately needed and recommended I take my prescriptions to a different Walgreens, one that had what I needed in stock. Needless to say this turned into a nightmare, total humiliation and shame and I literally feel like I was criminalized by this pharmacist. Again my situation goes way past refusal to fill a much needed prescription. This particular pharmacist became vindictive and I believe crossed a line most certainly of ethical duty but possibly a legal one. I know this because after spending several hours going back and forth and going to a third Walgreens pharmacy after her refusal , I was treated horribly. I then returned to my pharmacy in tears and pain and my pharmacist was dumbfounded at how I was treated. When she went into the computer to see why my prescription was flagged, she was irate at what she saw. She was not surprised when I told her the other pharmacists name that treated me so badly but she was very surprised to see what she had done to my Walgreens profile. I am angry at myself for not getting the specifics in that moment but as I said earlier it was a long day and I was in so much pain. I do know for a fact that my two pharmacists could not apologize enough about what transpired and could not wrap their heads about this others pharmacists negative actions against me. I believe they said not only did she flag the script as a possible non valid prescription, she proceeded to alter my profile or erase it including the icd-9 or 10 codes that were established. Off the record my pharmacist insisted I speak to corporate and the district manager and file a complaint with the California board of pharmacist. Needless to say that I still have not received all my medications as my Walgreens has been unable to obtain one of the meds and on top of my many pre-existing issues I was involved in a pretty severe riding accident 3 days prior to this experience where I was thrown off a quad going about 30 miles per hour and thrown 3-4feet in the air before landing very hard on hard sand on my left side.needless to say I really damaged my left shoulder and arm and still have little to zero mobility of my left side. I would so appreciate talking with you if possible because i wanted to not send a novel with some of the important details regarding this but wanted to at least send you a summary and hope to get your attention with this so we can then speak further .I am determined if nothing else, to see some serious consequences for this pharmacist and if In fact her actions against me are illegal then I plan on pursuing legal action. Also just another fact in this, I actually work in the field of mental health and substance abuse and have done so for the last 8 years. I was an integral part of developing and launching the first two free standing detoxes in San Diego. I have my own small company and have been self employed for approximately 3 years. I am very well known and respected in this field and because of that this is a very sensitive issue for me. Although all my colleagues know that I am not a person in recovery or have struggled with addiction issues, I try to keep this very private for several reasons .

Our country has a serious – and growing – Pharmacist surplus.. so if any chain is not happy with the attitude or the way one of their employed pharmacist treats pts.. they could replace them in a heart beat… but .. apparently chose not to.  They all claim how much they care about pts… maybe many of their employees have not read that memo..

Here is a link where pts can find local independent pharmacies where you will be dealing with the owner/pharmacist… who use “good customer service” as the reason people keep returning to patronize their pharmacy. http://www.ncpanet.org/home/find-your-local-pharmacy

Filed under: General Problems