$25.8 Million Verdict in Walgreens Wrongful Death Suit

August 17, 2007 9:40 PM

Dana Hughes Reports:

A Florida jury has awarded damages of $25.8 million to the family of a mother who died following a misfilled prescription by a high school technician at a Florida Walgreens store.

A "20/20" report last March investigating prescription drug errors featured the case of Beth Hippely, a stay-at-home mother of three children who suffered a massive stroke after Walgreens dispensed the wrong dosage of a powerful blood thinning medication to her.

Watch the video of Brian Ross' Investigation on "20/20."

The mistake crippled her and forced her to stop her needed chemotherapy. She died earlier this year after her cancer returned.

"The jury found that the negligence of Walgreens not only caused her initial brain injury, but also found it was the cause of her breast cancer recurring and subsequently her death," said Hippely attorney Chris Searcy.

In Hippely's case, a 19-year-old pharmacy technician mistakenly gave her a prescription of Coumadin that was 10 times more powerful than what she was prescribed. The drug, a potent blood thinner, was prescribed to Hippely while she was being treated for breast cancer.

Walgreens' policy is that technicians are not supposed to fill actual prescriptions without the supervision and final approval from a pharmacist.

The jury deliberated less than four hours before rendering a verdict, according to Karen Terry, another Hippely attorney.

"This is a case of profits over safety where a company's aggressive growth strategy resulted in a tragic prescription error," said Terry.

She said the verdict's announcement was "the first time I've seen Mr. Hippely smile in the three years I've represented him...He lost his wife. He's never going to get her back, but he feels vindicated."

A spokesperson for Walgreens told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the company is "truly sorry for what the Hippely family has been through, and we've personally apologized to them. We have been, and continue to be, the leader in pharmacy safety initiatives. We had hoped the verdict would have been fair and reasonable."

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August 17, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (48)

Gag Order Denied in Walgreens Wrongful Death Suit

August 07, 2007 2:21 PM

Dana Hughes Reports:

A Florida judge has denied Walgreens' request for a gag order on the family and attorney representing a mother of three, who died following a misfilled prescription at a Florida Walgreens.

Beth Hippely suffered a massive stroke after being given the wrong dosage of a powerful blood thinning medication which crippled her and forced her to stop her needed chemotherapy. She died earlier this year.

Citing an interview given by the Hippelys' attorney, Karen Terry, in an ABC News "20/20" story investigating pharmaceutical errors last spring, Walgreens claimed Terry's actions "had the effect of generating pre-trial publicity prejudicing Walgreens, which has a constitutional right to a non-tainted jury pool." The company requested an order "prohibiting the parties and their attorneys from engaging in pre-trial publicity prior to jury selection, and during the trial of this case."

The motion went on to request the judge "specifically prohibit the parties and their attorneys or staff from engaging in interviews or commenting about any aspect of the case before and during the trial of this matter."

Peter Canfield, a First Amendment attorney who represents many media outlets, called Walgreens' request "unusual" because it was so far reaching.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"In a civil case, the standard to grant a gag order is very high," says Canfield. "The test is whether because of what the jury's heard outside the courtroom, they can't be fair inside the courtroom."

In the Walgreens case, Canfield says the judge would have needed to determine "jurors heard about the '20/20' piece in March and it affected them to the point where they could not be objective," in order to grant the gag order.

"Typically judges have other ways to deal with influencing the jury," says Canfield. "They try to control what goes on inside the courtroom, what jurists have access to, and they don't do it by trying to control the media outside the courtroom."

Jury selection for the trial began yesterday. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.   

Walgreens was not available for immediate comment.

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August 7, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Walgreens Wants Gag Order in Prescription Error Wrongful Death Suit

August 06, 2007 12:18 PM

Dana Hughes Reports:

Walgreens has asked a state court judge to place a gag order on the family and attorney representing a mother of three who died following a misfilled prescription at a Florida Walgreens.

Beth Hippely suffered a massive stroke after being given the wrong dosage of a powerful blood thinning medication which crippled her and forced her to stop her needed chemotherapy. She died earlier this year.

Citing an interview given by the Hippelys' attorney, Karen Terry, in an ABC News "20/20" story investigating pharmaceutical errors last spring, Walgreens claims that Terry's actions "had the effect of generating pre-trial publicity prejudicing Walgreens, which has a constitutional right to a non-tainted jury pool." The company is "requesting an order prohibiting the parties and their attorneys from engaging in pre-trial publicity prior to jury selection, and during the trial of this case."

The motion goes on to request the judge "specifically prohibit the parties and their attorneys or staff from engaging in interviews or commenting about any aspect of the case before and during the trial of this matter."

Peter Canfield, a First Amendment attorney who has represented many media outlets, calls Walgreens' request "unusual" because it's so far reaching.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"In a civil case, the standard to grant a gag order is very high," says Canfield. "They'd have to show that jurors heard about the '20/20' piece in March and it affected them to the point where they could not be objective."

Canfield also says the request is a "severe restriction" on the First Amendment rights of the Hippely family and their lawyers.

"It's one thing for the court to control the lawyers, but it's very unusual to ask the court to muzzle the parties and the witnesses," he said.

In Beth Hippely's case, a 19-year-old pharmacy technician mistakenly gave Hippely 10 times the prescribed dosage of Coumadin, a powerful blood thinner, which she was prescribed while being treated for breast cancer. Walgreens' policy is that technicians are not supposed to fill actual prescriptions without the supervision and final approval from an actual pharmacist.

In the "20/20" interview, Terry told ABC News the technician's "prior job had been cleaning a movie theater and serving popcorn," and asserted that "it's not just a regrettable error. This is an intentional systemic drive for profits, for money. If it wasn't about that, they would hire more pharmacists; they would train their people; and they wouldn't be about opening more stores and more stores and more stores when they cannot staff what they have now."

Canfield says a gag order in the case would have a chilling effect on the media's ability to do its job in "telling the full story."

"In this case, this is an issue of great public interest outside of Walgreens, and by granting the order you'd be dampening public debate," he says.

Neither Walgreens' nor the Hippelys' lawyers could comment on the gag order request, but Walgreens has repeatedly disputed the allegations against the company.

In an earlier statement to the Blotter on ABCNews.com, Walgreens said, "We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies."

The statement added that "one of the most significant safety initiatives the drugstore industry has undertaken is promoting the use of electronic prescribing, which could have prevented the error in the Hippely case or other instances where the doctor's handwriting is misread. Walgreens invented the electronic prescription 15 years ago and has been a strong advocate of its adoption ever since."

But lawyers for the Hippely family have said the problem is systemic, not electronic.

"They were so understaffed at the time that two to three times a week they would pull stock boys and photo clerks and cashiers with no training whatsoever to fill pill bottles," Terry told ABC News in a previous interview. "District managers saw this with their own eyes and did nothing about it."

The pharmacist who gave Hippely the incorrect dosage wasn't informed of her error for several years and kept her job during that time.

Terry has said she knows of at least three other cases in which serious errors were made by technicians or pharmacists, and the pharmacists on duty were never told of the errors by Walgreens. She has argued that if Walgreens was serious about customer safety, the company would insist on pharmacists being made aware of their errors.

"If Walgreens wanted to improve their quality control and keep errors from happening, they would tell their pharmacists so they could be more careful," said Terry.

"Quality assurance is an ongoing project for us," Walgreens' previous statement said. "We've implemented 14 new quality controls in the last year. We also currently have another 12 in development, all of which were started well before."

The judge is expected to rule on the gag order today when jury selection for the Hippely trial begins. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks. 

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August 6, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (31)

Family Seeks Punitive Damages From Walgreens in Pharmacy Error Case

June 26, 2007 12:47 PM

Dana Hughes Reports:

The family of a mother of three who was given the wrong dosage of a powerful blood thinning medication wants the pharmacy Walgreens to pay punitive damages in the case.

Attornies for the family of Beth Hippely, who died earlier this year, say Walgreens "designed a system to understaff its pharmacies and focus on profit," according to a new motion put before a Florida judge. "This resulted in misfills which caused injury and death."

In Hippely's case, a 19-year-old pharmacy technician, whose previous job was filling popcorn at a movie theater, mistakenly gave Hippely 10 times the prescribed dosage of Coumadin, a powerful blood thinner, which she was prescribed while being treated for breast cancer.

Hippely was left severely physically and mentally incapacitated after she suffered a massive stroke caused by the huge dose of the drug.  After four years, she died earlier this year of cancer.

Karen Terry, the attorney representing the Hippely family, alleges that errors like this one  are not uncommon at Walgreens. She says the company's current quality control system stresses profits over customer safety.

"Walgreens' policy is to get prescriptions filled every 15 minutes. Their bonus plans have no incentive to make the prescriptions accurately," says Terry. "Its speed and volume equals profit."

In an earlier statement to the Blotter on ABCNews.com, Walgreens said, "We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies."

The statement added that "one of the most significant safety initiatives the drugstore industry has undertaken is promoting the use of electronic prescribing, which could have prevented the error in the Hippely case or other instances where the doctor's handwriting is misread. Walgreens invented the electronic prescription 15 years ago and has been a strong advocate of its adoption ever since."

But lawyers for the Hippely family say that the problem is systemic, not electronic.

"They were so understaffed at the time that two to three times a week they would pull stock boys and photo clerks and cashiers with no training whatsoever to fill pill bottles," Terry says. "District managers saw this with their own eyes and did nothing about it. Walgreens continued to open more stores. In fact, they've open a store every 90 minutes."

Walgreens is one of the fastest growing chain pharmacies, opening up to 500 new stores a year.

The pharmacist who gave Hippely the incorrect dosage wasn't informed of her error for several years and kept her job during that time.

Terry says she knows of at least three other cases where serious errors were made by technicians or pharmacists, and the pharmacists on duty were never told of the errors by Walgreens.

A "20/20" investigation earlier this year found that in one case involving a serious error, the pharmacist not only kept his job, but was promoted to manager at a different Walgreens.

Terry argues that if Walgreens was serious about customer safety, the company would insist on pharmacists being made aware of their errors.

"If Walgreens wanted to improve their quality control and keep errors from happening, they would tell their pharmacists so they could be more careful," said Terry.

"Quality assurance is an ongoing project for us," said Walgreens' statement. "We've implemented 14 new quality controls in the last year. We also currently have another 12 in development, all of which were started well before your story aired."

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June 26, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (17)

New Pharmacy Error Found at Walgreens

April 18, 2007 11:28 AM

Rhonda Schwartz Reports:

A seven-year-old boy from Modesto, Calif., who ended up in the emergency room, is one of more than a dozen cases of serious pharmacy errors at Walgreens drugstores reported by readers and viewers in the wake of an ABC News investigation of the problem posted online and broadcast last month.

Walgreens has confirmed the incident.

"His legs were shaking, he was getting delirious, cold and shaking. I kept thinking why is this happening?" the boy's mother, Diane Ramirez, wrote in a letter to The Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Ramirez said she filled her son's prescription for a drug called Tegretol-XR, which was prescribed to treat her son's mental health problems, on March 15 at her local Walgreens. But her child's condition worsened, and his doctor told her to increase the dosage.

It was not until a friend suggested she view the recent ABC News "20/20" report on pharmacy errors on The Blotter on ABCNews.com that Ms. Ramirez thought to double-check the prescription.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

To her horror, instead of Tegretol-XR, Walgreens had given her Toprol XL used to treat high blood pressure in adults (pictured above).

"My son had been taking the wrong pills for almost three weeks. I immediately took him to the emergency room where he was evaluated. The doctors told us that if we had not caught this in time, our son would have collapsed because the medication was making his blood pressure drop," Ms. Ramirez told ABC News.

Ms. Ramirez went back to her local Walgreens, where, she says, "a red-faced pharmacist apologized over and over. He said he didn't know who had filled the prescription and gave us a new bottle of the correct medicine. The pharmacist refunded our $20 insurance copayment and asked us to return or destroy the wrong pills."

When contacted by ABC News about the Ramirez case, a spokesman for Walgreens acknowledged the error, saying the pharmacy manager at the Modesto Walgreens had filed an internal company error report about the case last Friday.

In a statement to ABC News, Walgreens said the prescription had been filled by a pharmacy technician and checked by a pharmacist. "As a result of the error, procedures were reviewed with the Pharmacy staff" at the store, the company said.

Walgreens appears to shift some of the blame for the error from its own pharmacy staff to the young boy's doctor. "We found the prescription was handwritten by the doctor and unfortunately misread by our staff."

"This is a case where electronic prescribing could have avoided confusion between two medication names that looked similar when handwritten," the company statement said. 

"I'm angry and upset, particularly at Walgreens attempts to blame our doctor. What you showed on '20/20,' it's happening here in our neighborhood. We were shocked and furious to find out it had happened to us," Ms. Ramirez said.

"It's disappointing but not surprising," University of Illinois Professor Bruce Lambert, a specialist in studying medication errors, told ABC News in response to the Ramirez case.

"Confusion between drugs with look-alike and sound-alike names, such as Toprol and Tegretol, is a well-known problem," Lambert said. "The FDA issued a warning to pharmacists in October 2005 of the potential for mix-ups with these two drugs."

The "20/20" pharmacy investigation found there were no federal regulations, and only a few states require drugstores to report pharmacy errors. There are also no federal standards for pharmacy technicians, who can often be high school students with minimal training.

"Retail pharmacies have their own internal error reporting systems, but they have fought efforts to require them to publicly disclose the information, claiming proprietary and privacy concerns," said Lambert. "Access to this data would be a valuable resource to study and prevent future errors."

In the latest development, after ABC News contacted Walgreens to ask about the case, Ms. Ramirez said she received a phone call from a Walgreens  representative who asked how her son was doing and offered her a "settlement," which she says she politely refused to discuss.

"The doctors at the emergency room told me I should report this, but I had no idea who to tell. That's why I wrote to ABC," Ms. Ramirez said.

April 18, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (46)

Pharmacists React to Drug Error Report

April 03, 2007 10:38 AM

Brian Ross and Justin Rood Report:

Pharmacists reacted strongly to the recent ABC News investigation into errors at big chain drugstores, in comments left on the ABC News Web site.

"I think that story on 20/20 was extremely misleading," wrote "Lyndsy," who identified herself as a pharmacist.  Like others who wrote in, Lyndsy emphasized the pressures on pharmacists to handle many tasks at once while working long hours without an opportunity to rest.

"What people don't know is that pharmacists are ALWAYS getting interrupted" by phone calls from patients and doctors, problems with insurance companies and other distractions, she wrote. "Next time you want to talk about chain drug stores, show the other side of the counter."

"There are just too many interruptions to focus on the task of checking for errors and drug interactions when filling a script," wrote "Doug," who said he was a pharmacist.  The job's long hours without a pause are also difficult, he said. "I have to work 12-hour shifts," he wrote. "There are no lunch breaks or any breaks for that matter...I feel like I'm working in a sweat shop!"

A commenter who identified herself as pharmacist "Angela Valerga" said that grueling pace may put pharmacists in a dangerous position. She, too, noted the "10 to 12 hour shifts without breaks...or even access to a restroom."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"I feel that some of the larger chain pharmacies put their registered pharmacists at great risk," Valerga wrote.

On Monday, the national association of hospital and HMO pharmacists weighed in on the topic. 

Calling the prescription errors noted in the "20/20" report "tragic and regrettable," the 30,000-member American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) said pharmacy technicians, who were involved in the fatal errors covered in the "20/20" segment, are supposed to "[allow] pharmacists more time to spend counseling patients."  The group reiterated its call for strengthening pharmacy technician training and creating a system of mandatory reporting for serious pharmacy errors.

Read the group's full statement.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores, which represents major pharmacy chains like Walgreens, CVS and Eckerd, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Read last week's responses from the major pharmacy chains.

April 3, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (53)

Experts: Consumers Can Protect Themselves Against Pharmacy Errors

April 02, 2007 6:00 PM

Avni Patel Reports:

The recent ABC News "20/20" undercover pharmacy investigation underscores the need for patients to seek important information about their medications, pharmacy experts say.

"Patients view pharmacy, too often, like fast food," said Bruce Berger, who heads the department that designed and supervised the study at Auburn University's School of Pharmacy.  "They just simply don't understand that medicine is so much more powerful than it used to be, and it has the ability to help as well as harm."

Dr. Berger recommends that patients make sure they leave the pharmacy with a clear understanding of how their drug works, the likely side effects and the dangers of drug interactions.

"The harm can come from interactions from other medicines they're taking, which includes medicine they're not getting from the pharmacy, in other words herbals, non-prescription drugs," says Berger. Berger recommends that patients alert the pharmacist to all medications they're on, including any prescriptions filled at other pharmacies.

The ABC News "20/20" undercover field study of prescription dispensing at the country's best-known chain drug stores found that in more than one in five cases, chain pharmacies made some type of error in filling the prescriptions, although none of the errors included the wrong drug or dosage. Researchers also saw dramatic reduction in time spent on patient counseling by pharmacists, compared to a decade ago when ABC News and Auburn conducted a similar field test.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"I hope the patients will create a demand to get the pharmacists out at the cash register, or even better, the counseling area where they can counsel them properly," says Dr. Betsy Flynn of Auburn University's School of Pharmacy, who designed and supervised the study. 

The Auburn experts says patients can help avoid a prescription error by taking the following steps:

-Know what you're taking and why. The information can help the pharmacist determine the medication in case of poor handwriting or difficulties reaching the doctor.

-Many prescriptions now come with a physical description written on the vial. Compare what's in the bottle to the description. 

-Take time to wait for the pharmacist, even if he or she is not available immediately.  Not only can they provide important information, counseling will increase the chance of catching any error. 

Click here for American Pharmacists Association list of question patients should ask pharmacists.

April 2, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (8)

ABC Story Leads to Deluge of Pharmacy Error Reports

April 02, 2007 11:53 AM

Brian Ross and Justin Rood Report:

Hundreds of readers and viewers have reported pharmacy errors in the wake of an ABC News investigative report on what some fear is an unreported epidemic of such errors at large chain drugstores.

"I had a similar experience at Walgreens in 2003," wrote Pam Koster from Littleton, Colo., in a comment on The Blotter Web site.

At the time, Pam explained, her four-year-old son Michael had just been diagnosed with leukemia. After he had spent five days in the hospital, Pam brought Michael home and filled two prescriptions he needed for his treatment.

That night, as Pam prepared to give Michael his first doses of the medications, she read the directions from the bottles and thought something was odd, she told ABC News.

"I said, 'This doesn't seem right,'" Pam said she recalled.  Checking with the local children's hospital, she says her fear was confirmed: the pharmacy had mixed up the instructions on Michael's medications, advising Pam to give her son a much larger dosage of a powerful drug, Dexamethasone, than the hospital had directed and to give him much less of a second drug, Methotrexate, which was key to curing his leukemia.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

"I went to Walgreens the next day, first thing in the morning," Pam told ABC News. "The pharmacist who filled the prescription was there.  I asked to talk to him specifically.  I showed him the labels and said, 'This isn't right. I want you to pull what the hospital called in and show me what you did.'"

According to Pam, the pharmacist said he did not have the paperwork handy but would look into the matter. At first she resisted, Pam said, but eventually gave in after being promised the store would call her later that day with more information.

The pharmacist's supervisor called her that afternoon, Pam told ABC News.  Pam says she admitted the error and vowed to bring it up at the store's next staff meeting.

"We all make mistakes in our jobs," says Pam, whose disturbing story was one of dozens posted to ABCNews.com in response to the "20/20" investigation into pharmacy errors. "But there's got to be some sort of way these things can be reported. I'd like to be able to go to a [W]eb site and [look up] this Walgreens," Pam says, or even a specific pharmacist there, "and see what their track record is in terms of errors."

Walgreens has declined to address any specific incident of alleged pharmacy error. In a statement last week in response to the ABC News "20/20" investigation, Walgreens said, "We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies."

Improving wages for pharmacy technicians and increasing their training and credentialing requirements would also cut down on errors, some readers said.  Lori L., who interned at a chain pharmacy in Nevada, urged Americans to make their voices heard if they want to help raise awareness.

"Unless people speak out, nothing will change and errors will continue to be made by uneducated, undedicated techs who should not be in the profession," Lori wrote in her comment on The Blotter.

She told ABC News she became convinced for the need to fix the system after catching multiple errors made by pharmacy techs at a chain store where she helped out as an intern. "I was still theoretically a student," Lori told ABC News, "[and] I caught errors that supposedly experienced techs were making."

Of pharmacy technicians, Mary Ann Wagner, senior vice president of the National Association of Drug Store Chains, said, "We depend on them very heavily in our industry,"  saying there is no problem relying on technicians if they are adequately trained.

April 2, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (143)

Results of the ABC News '20/20' Undercover Pharmacy Investigation

March 30, 2007 10:17 PM

Rhonda Schwartz and Avni Patel Report:

For the last two months, a team of "20/20" producers fanned out across four states to conduct an undercover field test of prescription dispensing at the country's best known chain drug stores.

They found that in more than one in five cases, chain pharmacies made some type of error in filling their prescriptions.

"The results confirm our worst fears," said Dr. Ken Barker of Auburn University School of Pharmacy, one of the country's leading experts in studying pharmacy error rates. "There really is a problem out there."

The ABC test was designed and supervised by Auburn's Dr. Betsy Flynn, a specialist in studying errors in neighborhood pharmacies who designed a similar undercover test for ABC News over a decade ago.

"The 22 percent error rate found in the study was unacceptable," said Flynn, who expressed her "surprise and disappointment" that "despite all of the implementation of technology over the past 12 years, the error rate was similar to the previous study."

While in no case were ABC's producers given the wrong medication, there were a variety of dispensing errors found -- too many or too few pills, faulty and missing instructions on the labeling, even a failure to put a child proof cap on a powerful medicine for bi-polar disorder.

But perhaps the most important finding of the undercover test was a dramatic reduction in time spent on patient counseling by pharmacists.

Despite federal and state laws that require pharmacists to provide counseling to customers picking up new medications, patient counseling was only offered in 27 out of 100 purchases of new prescriptions, less than a third, in the ABC-Auburn Study.

Particularly alarming to the Auburn experts was the chain pharmacies' failure to warn patients of potentially harmful interactions when they purchased certain over-the-counter medications, such as adult strength aspirin with Coumadin, a blood thinner. In only eight cases out of 25 were the customers given a verbal warning. 

Finally, the study revealed that some pharmacies appear to be misleading customers into signing away their right to patient counseling.

Although the ABC producers paid with cash and no insurance was involved, in most cases they were still asked to sign at the pharmacy counter to pick up their prescriptions. But with only a few exceptions, our producers were never told they were signing forms that also included language to waive the legal right to counseling with a pharmacist.

"They're deceiving the patient about what they're really signing," said Bruce Berger, a department head at Auburn's pharmacy school who says the pharmacy personnel at the counter may not know it, but they are in effect, undercutting the law.

You can read a full summary prepared by Dr. Betsy Flynn of the design and results of the Auburn University – ABC News Pharmacy Study by clicking here.

March 30, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (158)

Drugstores Respond to '20/20'

March 30, 2007 10:13 PM

From The Blotter:

ABC's "20/20" contacted the leading national drugstore chains in advance of tonight's "20/20" report. All declined to provide on-camera interviews but did provide the following written statements. 

Walgreens:
"In the last 10 years alone, we've invested nearly $1 billion in redundant pharmacy safety systems, safety training and new technology toward the goal of a zero error rate." 

"In our industry, any error is one too many. We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies."

CVS:
"Over the course of several years, CVS has designed and invested millions of dollars in a comprehensive quality assurance program to enhance patient safety. This program is fully integrated into our prescription fulfillment process."

"We are constantly examining and implementing new and innovative ways to further improve quality.  For example, just recently we enhanced our pharmacy system to further support the accurate filling of prescriptions."

"CVS recognizes the importance of the pharmacist-patient counseling relationship. It is our policy to offer every customer who fills a prescription at CVS the opportunity to receive counseling from their pharmacist. Any incident you may have observed where a customer was not provided an offer to counsel is unacceptable to us and we will take immediate steps to reinforce our policy on this issue."

Brooks Eckerd:
"The Pharmacists and Technicians at Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy strive to provide the highest level of Pharmacy service and patient care throughout the dispensing process in accordance with established company policy which requires that an offer to counsel be made for prescriptions in accordance with state guidelines. Policy also requires adherence to company procedures designed to prevent prescription incidents. Should specific situations be identified where company policy is not complied with, they are addressed in a timely fashion and appropriate action taken to ensure proper controls are in place to prevent reoccurrence in the future."

Rite Aid:
"All Rite Aid pharmacists and technicians are trained on counseling policy and procedures which is that every patient should be asked during each new or refill prescription pickup if they have any questions for the pharmacist about their medication. We don't get many complaints about lack of counseling, but if we do we go into the store and retrain pharmacy staff."

"We want to immediately retrain the entire pharmacy personnel on our counseling policies and procedures at the four stores [ 20/20 ] mentioned."

Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart declined to provide a spokesperson for an interview and referred ABC to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores for an interview.

In addition, ABC News' "20/20" also contacted several regional chains that were included in the Auburn University study, ABC News' "20/20" field test. Here are their responses:

Publix:
A spokeswoman for Publix Pharmacies told ABC News that the company wasn't surprised to learn that a Publix pharmacist was the only Pharmacist in the ABC - Auburn University field test to warn patients about one potentially dangerous drug interaction. The spokeswoman told ABC News that as an employee-owned business Publix takes pride in its customer service and tries to staff their stores so  pharmacists have the time they need to properly counsel patients.      

Kroger:
"The safety of our patients is a top priority at Kroger pharmacies. We respect and appreciate the fact that our customers rely on the professional counsel our pharmacists provide. Our pharmacy professionals take their role as a primary source of drug information for our customers seriously and we as a company continue to provide ongoing training to provide the best service possible."

Albertsons:
"The accurate filling of prescription medications is the highest priority at Albertsons pharmacies.  Albertsons pharmacists take seriously their professional duty to fill prescriptions accurately.  Further, each of our pharmacists is required to utilize the comprehensive accuracy verification procedures we have established for our stores."

"To ensure that our patients receive the highest quality of care, the company is also committed to hiring and training top level pharmacists and highly talented pharmacy team members.  The company provides comprehensive and robust training to its pharmacy team to ensure that our pharmacy delivers unparalleled service and compliance."

Duane Reade, a Northeast drugstore chain, declined to comment.

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Read Walgreens' response to the "20/20" pharmacy investigation.

Read CVS' response to the "20/20" pharmacy story.

See the visual material provided by CVS.

Read Rite Aid's response to the "20/20" pharmacy investigation.

Read Albertsons' response to the "20/20" pharmacy story.

Read Wal-Mart's response to the "20/20" pharmacy investigation.

Read The Kroger Co.'s response to the "20/20" investigation.

March 30, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (34)

High School Students Filling Prescriptions

March 30, 2007 4:00 PM

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report:

The country's major drug store chains are increasingly relying on pharmacy technicians, often as young as 16 with little training, to fill prescriptions involving even the most powerful drugs.

Sometimes, there are tragic results.

A high school-aged pharmacy technician at a Walgreens in Lakeland, Fla., made a typing error and dispensed a dose of the blood thinner Coumadin that was 10 times what the doctor had prescribed.

"She was in high school. Her prior job had been cleaning a movie theater and serving popcorn," said Karen Terry, a lawyer representing the patient's family.

The patient, Beth Hippely, suffered a massive stroke after taking the medicine she was incorrectly given, forcing her to stop chemotherapy for a treatable, stage II breast cancer. She died earlier this year.

See Unreported Pharmacy Errors in Pictures.

Under Walgreens policy, prescriptions filled by pharmacy technicians are supposed to be double-checked by registered pharmacists.  In the Hippely case, the registered pharmacist failed to catch the high school student's error.

As big chain drug stores have rapidly expanded, thousands of pharmacy technicians have been hired.

"We depend on them very heavily in our industry," said Mary Ann Wagner, senior vice president of the National Association of Drug Store Chains.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

In a majority of states all that is required is that the student be actively working for a GED or high school diploma.

The amount of training varies from store to store, with some chains requiring only that the students watch a short video before taking the job.

"They're giving a huge responsibility to people that aren't trained to perform those duties," says Karen Terry.

The high school student who made the error with Beth Hippely testified she had watched a video and was taking classes in school to learn about the pharmacy job.

Testimony in the Hippely case also revealed that stock boys and photo shop workers were also pressed into service behind the pharmacy counter when the store became very busy.

"They know mis-fills and errors are bound to occur because they're giving huge responsibility and important responsibility to people that aren't trained to perform those duties," said Terry.

"This is an intentional, system drive for profits, for money. If it wasn't about that, they would hire more pharmacists," the lawyer said.

Walgreens is the country's biggest pharmacy and recently reported record profits.

In a statement to ABCNews.com, Walgreens said, "We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies.

March 30, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (436)

U.S. Pharmacy Errors: Unreported Epidemic?

March 29, 2007 11:40 AM

Rhonda Schwartz and Avni Patel Report:

Walgreens never told federal or state authorities that one of its pharmacists had made a mistake on a prescription that led to devastating brain damage in a suburban Chicago infant.

Because it didn't have to. 

Neither the federal government nor 46 of the 50 states have any law requiring that drug stores report prescription errors, even in cases involving serious injury or death.

See Pharmacy Errors in Pictures.

While some fear there is an unreported epidemic of pharmacy errors, there are no reliable figures to gauge the scope of the problem. And that's the way the industry seems to like it.

"I don't think it should be publicized," said Mary Ann Wagner, the senior vice president of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, in an interview to be broadcast Friday on "20/20."

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

She says the industry fears the public won't understand the difference between minor and major errors, and that the figures could be used to punish drug stores.

In the suburban Chicago case, the pharmacist mistakenly put a medicine for adult diabetes in filling a Phenobarbital prescription for seven-month-old Alexandra Gehrke.

Alexandra's mother, Tracey Gehrke, says the medicine was intended as a precaution against seizures in her prematurely-born daughter but actually triggered severe seizures.

"I was poisoning my baby, and I didn't know it," she told "20/20."

A jury ordered Walgreens to pay the family $21 million in damages, but the Gehrkes say neither the company nor the pharmacist ever offered an apology for a mistake that forever altered their daughter's life.

Alexandra cannot walk, talk or feed herself, although she is expected to have a normal life expectancy.

"You hurt people, and you don't apologize?" Tracey Gehrke asked.

The pharmacist who admitted responsibility for the error, William Zaeske, continues to work at Walgreens and is now a pharmacy manager at another store near the one where the prescription error happened.   

Zaeske declined to answer questions from "20/20" about how the error occurred.

In a statement, Walgreens said, "We deeply regret the few errors that have occurred among the more than 500 million prescriptions we fill each year at our 5,600 pharmacies."

As the country's biggest pharmacy chain, Walgreens recently reported record profits.   

It says it has invested nearly $1 billion in "redundant pharmacy safety systems" and training over the last 10 years.

For the full investigation, watch "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. EDT.

March 29, 2007 in Pharmacy Investigation | Permalink | User Comments (278)