Walgreen's Sued For Wrongful Death

In florida, a Walgreen's pharmacy was sued for giving someone the wrong prescription. Beth Hippely was the victim, and her family sued Walgreen's and won the case for 33.3 million dollars. Walgreen's was sued for negligent breach of duty and wrongful death. This means that Walgreen's failed to realize the mistake on the prescription, and therefore they are held liable for the damages that occurred to Beth Hippely because of their mistake.

Beth Hippely was a fourty-two year old mother of four. She lived in Bartow, Florida and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. Hippely began chemotherapy and her doctor prescribed her with Warfarin, a blood-thinner. However, the pharmacist at Walgreen's made a mistake and gave Hippely a dosage that was ten times as powerful as the amount she was supposed to take. The drug caused Hippely to have a stroke, which caused her to stop chemotherapy. Her cancer returned and she died in 2007. One reason Walgreen's was found liable was that the requirements to become a pharmacist at Walgreen's is very low. Walgreen's does ont even require a high school diploma for someone to work in their pharmacy. The person that worked there was supposed to type "one milligram" into the computer, but instead she typed, "10 milligrams" into the computer. To read more information on the case click Here.

Some people believe that a person has a duty to use reasonable care when picking up their prescription from Walgreen’s. Walgreen’s believes that people should know what their prescription is and should check it to make sure that they are taking the right medication. This is one reason why Walgreen’s appealed the original court decision. However, the court decided that Walgreen’s is ultimately liable for giving out an incorrect prescription. I agree with this decision because even though people should know their prescriptions, they should be able to trust Walgreen’s not to make a mistake with a person’s prescription. The requirements to work in the pharmacy are too easy, and these people are making mistakes that are costing peoples’ lives. This is not the first time that a prescription mix-up has occurred. It has happened many times and Walgreen’s needs to be made an example of by being sued for 33.3 million dollars. This case will make other companies more careful when giving out prescriptions. Also, companies may make the requirements to become a worker more difficult. This way, there would be fewer mistakes when dealing with prescriptions.