Is the money you're receiving from Walgreens, going to bring your wife back? And, this is the first time you smiled?? Did you smile while your wife was alive?

That is so sad and Walgreens should be more responsible about who fills out prescriptions.

I stopped filling my prescription at Walgreen because their nasty personnel at a pharmacy in Phoenix. They treated me like I was a pest they wanted to get rid of and that was the first time I went there, meaning I just walked in to fill up a prescription passing by that city. They were so nasty that I even wrote to the corporation. I talked to the manager of that store and he was nastier than the employees. I wrote to the parent company and let them know my name and all the prescription I was getting there and informed them I was taking my business elsewhere. The sad thing is that one customer does not make a big difference on their market. However I have my right to deal with some one else and give my $3 to some one else.

Yes, about staffs. Both my wife and I have health issues, (we're older,) and we've had to change drug stores more than once in the past six years -- the well run stores in our neighborhood seem to have trouble competing with chains, and both my wife and have had perscriptions mis-filled at two chains.

We were not injured because we looked at our med's and realized they had made a mistake. Both errors were probably made by over-worked technicians, people who were likely very competent but run into the ground by companies ruled by the quest for profit.

Sigh...

Another chain didn't mis-file but they had a pharmacy manager who kept filling our meds for additional months, though we asked for one month only -- and our insurance supposedly won't pay for multi-month prescriptions. (We stopped shopping there altogether because of this.)

Maybe you were a pest. And that teenager should not be blamed for anything. All prescriptions have to go through a pharmacist. That poor teenager is going through hell for nothing. Blame the pharmacist.

The only thing I have to say for Wal-Greens is the fact that Coumadin, brand name or generic has the milligram strength printed plainly on the tablet, clear enough that anyone could read it including the patient plus the strength of coumadin brand or generic is a specific color as well. Wal-Greens is in error for filling wrong, but patient surely could have read the 10mg on the tablet, is almost as big as the tablet.

2 weeks ago, I found out that my medications were being filled by a tech; the pharmacist didn't come in until the afternoon. I was told this when I asked to speak with the pharmacist. Furthermore, I found out that medications are counted out by machine, and I was shorted 18 pills on one prescription and 2 on another, but they were so angry with me for asking for 2 more pills that they refused to fill the prescription. I am a diabetic, and I also found that 2 boxes of pen needles , one of which looked tampered with, contained 90 needles each, and this, Walgreen's blamed on ** , which makes diabetic supplies. I, too, will move to a place where there is a pharmacist. Another Walgreen's gave me the wrong insulin once, and I caught the error when I got home, and never used any. My diabetic doctor at OHSU said that the mistaken insulin could have killed me.

I won't get into everything that is wrong with the business of retail pharmacies, but being a former Walgreens technician I find it amazing that the technician is taking the fall for this. The training of retail technicians is pitiful, but this is the kind of mistake that should not happen. The Walgreens system, the system that prints your prescription label, and price, and links to the register, will not allow a technician to sell a prescription that a licensed pharmacist has not signed off on. There is more than one person at fault here, but I don't see any mention of the pharmacist's lack of diligence that signed off on this prescription.

for the user who asked if this is the first time the husband smiled ever, the article stated it was the first time the husband smiled in the three years his attorney had represented him. which means, of course, AFTER his wife had passed away. not a very cool comment, whoever you are.

Vicki says, "Is the money you're receiving from Walgreens, going to bring your wife back? And, this is the first time you smiled?? Did you smile while your wife was alive?" What a TRULY NASTY, COLD-HEARTED COMMENT!!! The family has probably racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and medical medical, and Walgreen's has caused the children the loss of their mother and the loss of a man's wife. No money can ever replace that. Have you never heard of punitive damages? How in the world can a company let a 19-year-old unqualified person fill a prescription? What if it had been YOUR mother? Would you be dancing in the streets at all that money? I doubt it.

What if the husband did it? The perfect murder with a big payoff.

If you think the family should or should not have sued Walgreen's, Vicki, the company needed a wake-up call. Should they go unpunished? I am glad the case turned out the way it did. You took a personal attack against a man you don't know...

Responding to Vicki:

No, Vicki, I'm sure he never, EVER, smiled while his wife was alive. Give me a break. What kind of question is that? I do believe the man's been under a little stress the past few years. Vivki, have you ever had to take care of a terminally ill loved one? It's heartbreaking. And, no the money won't bring his wife back, but it will help offset the sometimes huge amount of money required to take care of a person in her condition. Also, since she was a stay at home mom, maybe he can quit his job now and spend more time with his three motherless children. More power to ya, Mr. Hippely.

Vicki: What a nasty little mind you have. I assume, that for consistency, you will also criticize the next story where a family member smiles for the first time in years when someone who killed their wife goes to jail.

For a corporation, a heavy fine is the equivalent of going to jail.

It is too bad the corporate PR flacks have succeeded in convincing some people that it is a _bad_ thing when companies are punished with fines for doing things that would get individuals sent to jail for years ("Negligent Homicide" - AKA manslaughter).

Vicki, sort of a stupid question to ask isn't it? The money will allow him to now hire help to raise his children or to stay at home himself and provide the care they need. It will provide him funds to send his children to school. You seem to overlook the fact that these children did NOTHING but have their mother taken from them. The husband did NOTHING but have his wife taken from him. If a corporation prides itself on being a leader in this area and thru fault on their part, causes a life to be lost, shouldn't they pay enough to compensate the family as well as make it hurt them enough to make sure this doesn't happen again?

Do you think he was smiling at the amount of the award? Think again. I would be smiling knowing that the world now knows they were responsible for the death and that the payment will force them to ensure this doesn't happen again. I don't think he was smiling thinking the trade of his wife's life was worth the money he's going to receive.

I stopped filling prescriptions at Walgreens because of their rude and uncaring personnel and on one occasion they failed to fill the prescription and put an empty pill bottle in the bag. I know I should of checked but who knew that you had to make sure they even gave you the pills!! Walgreens has some work to do to improve their service. Perhaps this verdict will make them examine their practices and personnel and make some changes. But I doubt that they will.

As a former pharmacy tech at a Wal-Mart I can tell you that anyone with a clean police record can get a license (in Tennessee and in most states). I was given minimal training, although the actual part of filling a prescription isn't that difficult. The hardest part is reading the doctor's handwriting (seriously). The pharmacist is required to check our computer input to verify that we entered the proper drug, dosage, qty, etc. Then the script goes to a small handheld device where we would fill the script. We had to scan the drug bottle with the handheld device and if we grabbed the wrong bottle we couldn't proceed. After we filled it the pharmacist checked what we did.
The biggest probelm? Wal-Mart has a very high turn-over rate and they are constantly training tech's which is not good. But because Wal-Mart will not give most people full-time employment or benefits the turn-over is very high. Does Wal-Mart care though? No way!

this man deserves all that money! way to stick it to these corporate rats!

Hey vicki, what kind of ascenine comment is that, why don't you read the article again and note what it truly says, not what you want it to say. Idiots like you should be banned from commenting on anyone else's misfortune.

I have gotten wrong presciption at CVS, Walgreen and others. I have learn to read the insert( contents important information), check the "Pill Book" and ask QUESTIONS. My doctor prints the presciption out so they are easy to read.