Palm Beach woman sues Walgreens over insulting comments on prescription

South Florida Sun-Sentinel ^ | March 8 2006 | Missy Stoddard

[indcons]

For years, Janey Karp has battled depression and anxiety with the help of prescription drugs. Though millions of Americans do the same, Karp admits she is intensely private and can't help but feel stigmatized for needing medication to feel normal.

So when the 53-year-old Palm Beach resident read the Walgreens printout attached to her prescription last week for the sleep aid Ambien, she couldn't believe her eyes. Typed in a field reserved for patient information and dated March 17, 2005, was "CrAzY!!" In another field, dated Sept. 30, 2004, it read: "She's really a psycho!!! Do not say her name too loud, never mention her meds by names & try to talk to her when ... " The information continued onto another page but was not attached.

"I was devastated, humiliated and embarrassed," Karp said. "I honestly couldn't speak. I was trembling."

Karp filed suit Tuesday against Illinois-based Walgreen Co., accusing the nationwide retail chain of defamation, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Walgreens is investigating, according to company spokeswoman Carol Hively, who said that computers are accessible to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

[technochick99]

I'm sure that my pharmacy has a lot of messages on me! It seems like whenever I go there for anything, it gets messed up. I get a little short-tempered in response to their frequent incompetencies. Yes, it's a Walgreens. If they wrote something nasty about me, I think I'd just laugh.

[Rockpile]

Now, could this be a scam? Did "CrAzY" produce the notes herself? Also, how did FrIeNd of CrAzY pay for the dope?

[Utah Girl]

I really try not to go near any drugs, I saw what they did to people while working in the pharmacy. I will take them if necessary, but I sure don't blindly take what the dr orders.

And no experimentation for me. I know the younger generation does experiement, but I saw too many who got caught in the trap of addiction. They would never do needles, meth, cocaine, heroin, and yet in the throes of addiction, did do those things.

I think some of the problem is that they don't realize that the initial rush of the drug can be pleasureable. And some go on to repeat that initial rush, and pretty soon, an addict is born.

[Aliska]

Yes, the results can be dreadful. I'm like you when it comes to a new drug and don't take it unless absolutely necessary, even pain pills, only if the threshold becomes unbearable which isn't usually the case.

Guess I need to shut down as we are having an electrical storm. I guess spring has sprung.

[Dont Mention the War]

This sort of story pops up about three or four times a year. The solutions are so obvious and simple. Either:

1) Do not offer a field for free-form "notes" in your store's software at all. (This probably is not an option for a pharmacy, which has a legitimate need to make important medical notations, but it's definitely not a requirement for a restaurant or an airline ticket counter.)

2) Have it, but make it a fireable offense for any employee to put any personal comments in that field. And enforce the policy by having management regularly pull up a few customer files at random; if there's any BS in those entries, immediately terminate the employment of whoever wrote them.

I have zero sympathy for Walgreen's in this case. Pharmacies are medical facilities; if you can't handle dealing with people who have problems (such as those with mental illness), then you should never apply to work in a pharmacy any more than you should apply to be a hospital orderly. And if Walgreen's isn't willing to weed out those ill-suited to working in these positions, well ... in today's world a nice big embarrassing lawsuit is the only way to force them to start tackling the problem.

[Dont Mention the War]

How can disclosure of patient info to the patient be a violation under HIPAA?

HIPAA can get very complicated, but my guess is her lawyers are going to make the argument that at least some of the people with access to those comments do not qualify as "medical personnel" under HIPAA regulations (like, say, someone that just runs the cash register). There may also be rules about people "adding information to medical charts" when they don't have the education or the licenses to do so.

In any case, writing "CrAzY!" on someone's record makes Walgreen's look like a bunch of complete sleazebags, whether any laws were broken or not. If the suits at corporate HQ have any brains, they'll settle this suit real fast and immediately clamp down on the use of such "note" fields for any nonessential employee comments.

[ccwoman]

VERY WELL SAID!
maybe she shouldn't get a huge amount of money but the tech who wrote it needs fired and the woman should get a certain amount of free prescriptions with a very sincere written apology.

[JCEccles]

What did they disclose? And to who?

It appears that they inadvertently disclosed it to her, which is neither a violation of HIPAA nor slander. They also apparently discussed it among themselves, but that really isn't a public disclosure. Moreover, they arguably have qualified privilege to share otherwise slanderous comments among themselves so long as they are not motivated by malice. They are free to express personal opinions regardless of what she thinks.

But she published the statements to the world. Damages, if any, from slander are likely nominal at best.

They were rude in the opinions they expressed about her among themselves, but I don't see that they necessarily did anything actionable. Even negligent infliction of emotional distress would be a loser unless they could tie it parasitically to another tort.

[redgirlinabluestate]

How can disclosure of patient info to the patient be a violation under HIPAA? Now if they gave her info to ME or you. But as the patient, she is entitled to those records. It boils down to this: She is offended that someone else thinks this of her and now she wants them to pay. (It is unprofessional, but not a HIPAA violation)

I agree with you. Nobody would have known about this had she not publicized it herself. Plus, truth is a defense! It was rude, insulting, embarassing and inappropriate, but I don't think it is actionable. At least, it shouldn't be.

[Albion Wilde]

..but, at the same time, her comments and actions in this situation seems to confirm the comments..

I completely disagree with your statement. There are many reasons why a person may have depression, including genetics, or an undiagnosed physical ailment that also causes depression.

To have her name and the name of the medication trumpeted out in the store is grossly incompetent and demeaning. It's as if you went to your doctor's packed waiting room, containing neighbors or congregation members, and the receptionist yelled out, "Mnehrling! Here for your hemorrhoids again?"

[JCEccles]

In any case, writing "CrAzY!" on someone's record makes Walgreen's look like a bunch of complete sleazebags

It was certainly a stupid thing to do from a business perspective. Walgreens should fire the pharmacist or pharmacist tech involved and do something really nice for the woman who complained.

But on the facts presented, this shouldn't be a basis for expanding the power of trial attorneys by inventing a new victim class and harms based on mere rudeness and hurt feelings. If that becomes a new tort, a dozen new lawsuits a day could be generated from the occasional flame wars at FR alone.

[spectre]

I've witnessed people get prescriptions filled who don't really feel all that well. Some are sick and should be home in bed and may be short tempered because of their illness. That's the nature of the beast :(

People who need Prozac, Zoloft, etc., usually aren't walking around in sunshine to begin with. And Lord help the tech that gets hold of one of them coming down from the effects. Or before they fill that first script.

Still, it was obviously humiliating for this woman. They need to revisit their policy of tagging psycho customers.

I'd imagine this lady just wants the perceived defamation to go away for herself and prevent it from happening to others..anyway she can.

I also hope she becomes a kinder and gentler person, for her own sake.

sw

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

I have zero sympathy for Walgreen's in this case. Pharmacies are medical facilities; if you can't handle dealing with people who have problems (such as those with mental illness), then you should never apply to work in a pharmacy any more than you should apply to be a hospital orderly.

BINGO!

[Just Lori]

Somebody goofed.

[proudpapa]

METHINKS CrAzY is looking for a lifetime of free prescriptions.

[NicknamedBob]

"CrAzY!!"

Okay, I get the Cromium and the Yttrium, but what chemical element is represented by Az?

[pray4liberty]

The doctor dignosed her illness and prescribed the medication. it is not required that the employees make derogatory remarks about her condition. I hope she wins.

Agreed. Some mental conditions do have a physical cause, mainly an imbalance in brain chemistry that medications correct and may be genetic to begin with. It is not the person's fault that they have this condition any more than it is a person's fault that they have a bad heart or high blood pressure.

Furthermore, there seems to be a troublesome lack of sympathy and quick judgment on the part of the "normal" people here. This lady had to be embarassed beyond belief to read those comments...they were way out of line.

[trussell]

What right did the friend have to be reading the medical information printed on that paper? It wasn't the friends business to do anything more than pick the prescription up and deliver it to the patient.

[Smarti Pants]

WHen I worked for an optometrist, if he encountered a ... difficult patient, he would write "AP" someplace where the optician could read it.

It meant *ss Pain (or PIA) but if anyone were to ask, it meant "Accurate Prescription".

It really wasn't meant to be so much of a kick in the *ss for the patient, but to warn the colleague that the person they were dealing with needed to be "handled" with kid gloves.

[TNdandelion]

Viagra--"limp-d*!k"
Ritalin--"lazy parent"
RU486--"whore"
Valtrex--"skank"
PrepH--"PIA"
Diet pills--"Fatso"
Cholesterol meds--"Lard &$$"

Oh I see lots of potential for pissed off customers...and not just the crazy ones!