Another lawsuit... this time for Walgreen's

[Moxxie]

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I saw this article today:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/w...,0,7602360.story?coll=ny-region-apconnecticut

Basically, a wag's employee accidentally printed out the "patient notes" section that is meant to only be seen by the eyes of the pharmacy employees, and the things on the print-out were rather inappropriate/unprofessional. She's suing the company for defamation/emotional distress.

It's obvious that this patient should have never seen these comments in the first place, but the employees could have been a bit more sensitive (the "cRaZy!" comment was priceless). How do you guys/gals go about noting particularly difficult patients?

Either way, I think that this woman is going to see a nice settlement from Walgreen's.

Edit: linked to a less biased website

 

[pharmforme]

I saw this article today:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49166

Basically, a wag's employee accidentally printed out the "patient notes" section that is meant to only be seen by the eyes of the pharmacy employees, and the things on the print-out were rather inappropriate/unprofessional. She's suing the company for defamation/emotional distress.

It's obvious that this patient should have never seen these comments in the first place, but the employees could have been a bit more sensitive (the "cRaZy!" comment was priceless). How do you guys/gals go about noting particularly difficult patients?

Either way, I think that this woman is going to see a nice settlement from Walgreen's.

I hope she gets at least an apology, but I especially hope that the schmucks who wrote those insensitive comments are fired. How can you possibly give good patient care with that kind of attitude towards patients? It is difficult enough to seek help for depression or impotence etc without worrying about some insensitive ignorant BLEEP labeling you or making fun of you.

This truly disgusts me.

And I've seen a few comments on here that are in line with these idiots at Walgreens who wrote these comments. I'm starting to think that a pre-req for Pharmacy (or any health care profession for that matter) should be having some personal experience with health crises. Too many people who've had smooth sailing their whole lives just do not get it.

 

[npage148]

HAHA, thats pretty funny. SHe was gonna find out sooner or later she was a wing-nut. All pharmacies have patients like that, totally unable to be satsified and pretty much batty. Its the truth, its not mean.

I have customers like that, but it doesnt go in her profile, its just common store knowledge. We have one mentally challanged (cant say ******ed casue one of you will whine) customer that is totally obsessed with feet, like full blown fetish. He always ask to look at the counter girls feet and their socks. We could put things in his profile but we dont. Thats just a funny side story.

I wouldnt sue, id just want an aplogy and change stores. Simple as that. No need to sue becasue some group of people doesnt like her. If she is so "devastated" by finding out people dont like her then the comments are pretty much true. Some people dont like me and im not devastatedThe only I see in the article are HIPPA violations if they were truly yelling out what drugs she was taking.

 

[pharmforme]

HAHA, thats pretty funny. SHe was gonna find out sooner or later she was a wing-nut. All pharmacies have patients like that, totally unable to be satsified and pretty much batty. Its the truth, its not mean.

I have customers like that, but it doesnt go in her profile, its just common store knowledge. We have one mentally challanged (cant say ******ed casue one of you will whine) customer that is totally obsessed with feet, like full blown fetish. He always ask to look at the counter girls feet and their socks. We could put things in his profile but we dont. Thats just a funny side story.

I wouldnt sue, id just want an aplogy and change stores. Simple as that. No need to sue becasue some group of people doesnt like her. If she is so "devastated" by finding out people dont like her then the comments are pretty much true. Some people dont like me and im not devastatedThe only I see in the article are HIPPA violations if they were truly yelling out what drugs she was taking.

Just to clarify, I'm not concerned with anyone liking their patients. Patients don't care if the pharmacy staff likes them. We aren't talking about a high school environment here, we're talking about patients. A patient does care if their medical conditions are thrown about as if they were a joke, and private information is involved. I understand that there will be those patients that are more challenging/unusual than others. But wouldn't it be more appropriate to handle things with some maturity & professionalism? I'm not a big fan of suing either, but some sort of action is justified if private medical information is tossed about when it is a pharmacy's responsibility to keep it private. Especially when you consider the pathetic response Walgreens provided.

Regardless of the legalities, it's just so pitiful that people who are supposed to be professionals in our field get their fun out of mocking others. You have to wonder why they joined the healthcare industry to begin with.

 

[Moxxie]

Just to clarify, I'm not concerned with anyone liking their patients. Patients don't care if the pharmacy staff likes them. We aren't talking about a high school environment here, we're talking about patients. A patient does care if their medical conditions are thrown about as if they were a joke, and private information is involved. I understand that there will be those patients that are more challenging/unusual than others. But wouldn't it be more appropriate to handle things with some maturity & professionalism? I'm not a big fan of suing either, but some sort of action is justified if private medical information is tossed about when it is a pharmacy's responsibility to keep it private. Especially when you consider the pathetic response Walgreens provided.

This is my point exactly. No doubt this woman was a difficult customer, but she still needs to be treated with professionalism. It's also just immature to put derogatory comments in the DUR.

I'm sure that a lot of pharmacies use a type of code to identify the patients that need special handling. Why couldn't this have been done? There's a big difference between typing "Mrs. X is very sensitive to privacy concerns. Refer her to the RPh if anything comes up" and things like "CrAzY!!" "she's a psycho!!"

 

[alwaystired]

Just to clarify, I'm not concerned with anyone liking their patients. Patients don't care if the pharmacy staff likes them. We aren't talking about a high school environment here, we're talking about patients. A patient does care if their medical conditions are thrown about as if they were a joke, and private information is involved. I understand that there will be those patients that are more challenging/unusual than others. But wouldn't it be more appropriate to handle things with some maturity & professionalism? I'm not a big fan of suing either, but some sort of action is justified if private medical information is tossed about when it is a pharmacy's responsibility to keep it private. Especially when you consider the pathetic response Walgreens provided.

Regardless of the legalities, it's just so pitiful that people who are supposed to be professionals in our field get their fun out of mocking others. You have to wonder why they joined the healthcare industry to begin with.

I don't think that they started mocking her because of what drugs she was taking---that would be harsh. I think her behaviors (and probably rudeness) led them to call her CRAZY. She probably just so happens to be on some medications used to treat people who are medically not all there. I agree with npage that it should not have been put in the file and HIPPA shouldn't have been violated. But, if someone acts like a loon to me, I am entitled to think it. Many people without psychiatric diagnosis act out in weird ways and are not liked. They are usually used to it. She probably knew about this for awhile and is just now "lucky" enough to have gotten proof that will allow her to make money sueing for it.

 

[pharmforme]

But, if someone acts like a loon to me, I am entitled to think it. Many people without psychiatric diagnosis act out in weird ways and are not liked. They are usually used to it.

Of course you are entitled to think it! But any professional would not joke about it and certainly not make a note of it in patient files!!

 

[pharmforme]

This is my point exactly. No doubt this woman was a difficult customer, but she still needs to be treated with professionalism. It's also just immature to put derogatory comments in the DUR.

I'm sure that a lot of pharmacies use a type of code to identify the patients that need special handling. Why couldn't this have been done? There's a big difference between typing "Mrs. X is very sensitive to privacy concerns. Refer her to the RPh if anything comes up" and things like "CrAzY!!" "she's a psycho!!"

Perfectly said. On a lighter note, your cat is adorable 🙂

 

[Sosumi]

When we first learned how to use our computer system, the tech trainer's first thing she told us was to be careful about what we put in the patient notes section because something similar to this situation happened at another chain.

What happened to this patient was just awful. We have quite a few difficult patients at our pharmacy. How I've learned to deal with them is looking at their profile and knowing where they're coming from and treat them as calmly and professionally as possible despite their rudeness.

Knowing that they have psychiatric issues should make us as health professionals more sensitive to the patient regardless of how difficult they are. It's a nice perk compared to regular retail where people are rude to you but you don't have some perspective or understanding behind their rudeness most of the time.

 

[dgroulx]

Our computer at Wags is loaded with derogatory comments. Some of them are hysterical. They've never gotten to the patients, because our store doesn't have any techs that are idiots.

 

[pharmforme]

Our computer at Wags is loaded with derogatory comments. Some of them are hysterical. They've never gotten to the patients, because our store doesn't have any techs that are idiots.

 

[Shovingit]

Our computer at Wags is loaded with derogatory comments. Some of them are hysterical. They've never gotten to the patients, because our store doesn't have any techs that are idiots.

Yeah my store has a ton of "inappropriate" comments as well. I don't think its a big deal, as long as they stay on our computer, and no jackass prints them AND gives them to the patient. I find it hard to believe that those of you who were opposed to the comments being on their files never talk about your customers when they're gone in a negative way. It's part of what keeps the job interesting. Also, it serves as a heads up to someone who hasn't met them before when you see "THIS LADY IS INSANE, TOTAL INCONSOLABLE B*TCH" on her profile, you know you have to handle her carefully. Still think its funny that someone got their comments.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

haha, who would have thought that could have happened. i dont think there is anything wrong with that as it helps the efficiency of the pharmacy as long as the patients dont see it. you really cant attack how one person think of another.

 

[gimpsd]

The thing I find funny and I quote from a newspaper:

"Karp (that's the lady) admits she is intensely private and can't help but feel stigmatized for needing medication to feel normal"

and further along in the article:

"I was devastated, humiliated and embarrassed," Karp said.

Now my question is that if she is this reserved about discussing her meds and diagnosis, why is she advertising her whole prognosis on national newspapers? Apparently money is more important then her need for privacy. What really pisses me off is this lady is going to make money off of a overworked and stressed out technician getting fired that she most likely yelled at countless times while picking up her "psycho" meds. Chances are, that technician who wrote those notes had no idea what her medications were being used for, he/she was probably just commenting on her aberrant behavior. If you ask me, the real victim is the technician.

 

[alwaystired]

The thing I find funny and I quote from a newspaper:

"Karp (that's the lady) admits she is intensely private and can't help but feel stigmatized for needing medication to feel normal"

and further along in the article:

"I was devastated, humiliated and embarrassed," Karp said.

Now my question is that if she is this reserved about discussing her meds and diagnosis, why is she advertising her whole prognosis on national newspapers? Apparently money is more important then her need for privacy. What really pisses me off is this lady is going to make money off of a overworked and stressed out technician getting fired that she most likely yelled at countless times while picking up her "psycho" meds. Chances are, that technician who wrote those notes had no idea what her medications were being used for, he/she was probably just commenting on her aberrant behavior. If you ask me, the real victim is the technician.

I agree 100% about her taking advantage of the situation. I am sure people have thought "crazy" "psycho" about me too. I just don't have any physical evidence and I doubt I could sue anyways. She is taking advantage of the fact that it is Walgreens with mega money and a mega reputation to keep clean.

 

[pharmforme]

If you ask me, the real victim is the technician.

Oh, Coooome OOOOOON! Yeah, that poor tech has to do their job, keep people's medical info private, AND be respectful???! Jeez, that's far too much to ask for. You're so right, that poor tech is the victim. Of themself. If they dislike their job so much, they probably won't mind when they do get fired for being an disrespectful idiot.
It's a wide open world out there. If they have such horrible demands put on them, why don't they change occupations instead of just performing their job so poorly? Dealing with customers is part of the job. I still cannot understand why those who do not want to deal with people enter the healthcare field, but I'm quickly learning that the world has lots of compassionless, judgemental people in it. I refuse to sink to that level and perform my job like a teenager because a customer is frustrated, stressed or doesn't understand something.

 

[gimpsd]

Oh, Coooome OOOOOON! Yeah, that poor tech has to do their job, keep people's medical info private, AND be respectful???! Jeez, that's far too much to ask for. You're so right, that poor tech is the victim. Of themself. If they dislike their job so much, they probably won't mind when they do get fired for being an disrespectful idiot.
It's a wide open world out there. If they have such horrible demands put on them, why don't they change occupations instead of just performing their job so poorly? Dealing with customers is part of the job. I still cannot understand why those who do not want to deal with people enter the healthcare field, but I'm quickly learning that the world has lots of compassionless, judgemental people in it. I refuse to sink to that level and perform my job like a teenager because a customer is frustrated, stressed or doesn't understand something.

Why is it that people are allowed to abuse and dump thier stress on us and in return we have to just bear it and grin. This compassion thing only seems to go one way. I'm compassionate to my customers but the customers are rude and disrespectful to me. How long do you continue smiling and have people yell at you for things that you have no control over. I love my job, there are people that come in that are understanding and know that the job I'm doing is hard and give me respect, which I am more then happy to reciprocate. However, there are people out there that abuse the system every chance they get and they deserve no respect from me. You can cater to their needs as much as you want but when I have people sitting thier yelling at my technicians unnesessarily, thy are immidiatly asked to leave and to take thier business elsewhere. In my world, compassion is a two way street. Maybe if the pharmacist had shown some compassion to his/her technician then that tech. would not have reverted to writing deregogatory comments on the notes field.

 

[pharmforme]

Why is it that people are allowed to abuse and dump thier stress on us and in return we have to just bear it and grin. This compassion thing only seems to go one way. I'm compassionate to my customers but the customers are rude and disrespectful to me. How long do you continue smiling and have people yell at you for things that you have no control over. I love my job, there are people that come in that are understanding and know that the job I'm doing is hard and give me respect, which I am more then happy to reciprocate. However, there are people out there that abuse the system every chance they get and they deserve no respect from me. You can cater to their needs as much as you want but when I have people sitting thier yelling at my technicians unnesessarily, thy are immidiatly asked to leave and to take thier business elsewhere. In my world, compassion is a two way street. Maybe if the pharmacist had shown some compassion to his/her technician then that tech. would not have reverted to writing deregogatory comments on the notes field.

Hey, don't get me wrong, if someone is screaming at the tech, I'd ask them to leave too. I'm not saying abuse is ok! But don't forget techs & pharmacists are *paid* to maintain some level of professionalism- they are expected to maintain composure not to make friends, but because it is part of their job! My point is, there is a professional way to make notations about patients (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and handle problem patients, and that was obviously not done here! It sounds as if this problem patient was handled by an immature teenager being pissy about a high school nemesis, not a professional tech who gets paid to perform a job.

 

[gimpsd]

Hey, don't get me wrong, if someone is screaming at the tech, I'd ask them to leave too. I'm not saying abuse is ok! But don't forget techs & pharmacists are *paid* to maintain some level of professionalism- they are expected to maintain composure not to make friends, but because it is part of their job! My point is, there is a professional way to make notations about patients (as mentioned earlier in the thread) and handle problem patients, and that was obviously not done here! It sounds as if this problem patient was handled by an immature teenager being pissy about a high school nemesis, not a professional tech who gets paid to perform a job.

Actually, now that I think about it, the pharmacist is the only one that prints out drug interaction information for the patients. Most likely the pharmacist was the one that goofed and didn't read the notes field when they gave the medication to the patient. I agree with you that whoever was in charge of that pharmacy wasn't doing a good PR job but does that justify some lady getting tons of money and possibly having several people lose their jobs? You seem to think "yes" and I'm going with "No". In my opinion this is just a frivolous lawsuit and should be thrown out of court.

 

[pharmforme]

Actually, now that I think about it, the pharmacist is the only one that prints out drug interaction information for the patients. Most likely the pharmacist was the one that goofed and didn't read the notes field when they gave the medication to the patient. I agree with you that whoever was in charge of that pharmacy wasn't doing a good PR job but does that justify some lady getting tons of money and possibly having several people lose their jobs? You seem to think "yes" and I'm going with "No". In my opinion this is just a frivolous lawsuit and should be thrown out of court.

If you think that throwing about private medical information in a public store for kicks isn't frivolous, I'd strongly disagree. And I don't think she should get "tons of money", but an apology would be the least Walgreens could do. Jeez. My issue isn't really about the lawsuit, it's about the people in this story who are supposed to be professionals! Honestly, if the staff who caused this problem had done their jobs properly to begin with, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit or loss of jobs to worry about!! If Walgreens is out $ because of an irresponsible/immature employee, why shouldn't they fire them? There are certainly parties who are at fault here, and the patient isn't one of them. It isn't against the law to be a pain in the butt, but I believe it is for a licensed pharmacy to reveal medical info without the patients consent. "Crazy" or not, you can't forfeit a patient's right just because you don't like them or they are a pain.

Why not just be professional 😱 , get your kicks from things OTHER than making fun of a patients medical issues, and not risk lawsuits like this?

 

[WVUPharm2007]

It's what the acronym PITA was made for, people. Just put that in there and you're fine.

 

[alwaystired]

If you think that throwing about private medical information in a public store for kicks isn't frivolous, I'd strongly disagree. And I don't think she should get "tons of money", but an apology would be the least Walgreens could do. Jeez. My issue isn't really about the lawsuit, it's about the people in this story who are supposed to be professionals! Honestly, if the staff who caused this problem had done their jobs properly to begin with, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit or loss of jobs to worry about!! If Walgreens is out $ because of an irresponsible/immature employee, why shouldn't they fire them? There are certainly parties who are at fault here, and the patient isn't one of them. It isn't against the law to be a pain in the butt, but I believe it is for a licensed pharmacy to reveal medical info without the patients consent. "Crazy" or not, you can't forfeit a patient's right just because you don't like them or they are a pain.

Why not just be professional 😱 , get your kicks from things OTHER than making fun of a patients medical issues, and not risk lawsuits like this?

From everything I have read on this subject (on this board) I believe she is sueing because they have "maligned" her name with what is written in the computer about her. I think the comments went in there b/c she felt that they were throwing her information about, but I am sure the comments in the computer put an end to that. Even so, people who are picking up certain medications are more apt to believe the staff are "shouting" them and their names and diagnosis. What I am saying is that some people are more sensitive to even the quietest talking----even counseling----esp. people picking up meds they are embarrassed about and we all know that the "stand behind this line" does not do much for privacy at all (we can all hear what is going on)

 

[pharmforme]

From everything I have read on this subject (on this board) I believe she is sueing because they have "maligned" her name with what is written in the computer about her. I think the comments went in there b/c she felt that they were throwing her information about, but I am sure the comments in the computer put an end to that. Even so, people who are picking up certain medications are more apt to believe the staff are "shouting" them and their names and diagnosis. What I am saying is that some people are more sensitive to even the quietest talking----even counseling----esp. people picking up meds they are embarrassed about and we all know that the "stand behind this line" does not do much for privacy at all (we can all hear what is going on)

I hope (out of my respect for pharmacy) that you are right in that she was simply oversensitive but the immaturity of the comments they noted make me wonder...maybe they were just quietly counseling her and she blew it out of proportion...that is not even close to how she described it and the patient notes unfortunately really only seem to back her up. I wonder if there were witnesses.... ok, now I'm in a Law & Order mood. Duh-Duh. (only you Law & Order fans have a clue what that means).


WVU- you got it! I called my dog PITA this morning at 5 am when she made me take her out in the freezing cold. I shoulda just named her that!

 

[alwaystired]

It's what the acronym PITA was made for, people. Just put that in there and you're fine.

Or they could've caller her a C U Next Tuesday if she was really that bad.

 

[pharmforme]

Or they could've caller her a C U Next Tuesday if she was really that bad.

sigh. I give up! 😉

 

[freshbeatschris]

I completely agree with pharmforme with all of her posts. I heard about the story on the morning news.

Ironically, one of the main impetus that brought me to the field of pharmacy was how I was treated by a Walgreen's pharmacy techinician when I was picking up my pain meds after my skydiving accident. I was on public aid. Even though I have been working since I was 16 years old, I have not had the luxury of finding a job that included health insurance and I have been unable to afford it on my own. The look that this woman gave me when I would pick up my medicine was enough to make me cry. She treated me like I was dirt.

I vowed that I would never, ever, ever judge a person by their ability to pay, or for the medicines they were taking, even if they are obviously addicted to prescription medication. It is not my place to judge. Leave that to God. My job as a pharmacist in a professional health career dealing with sick patients is TO HELP THEM TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES AND NOT JUDGE THEM.

If people treat you like crap at your job (which is inevitable at ALL jobs not just retail pharmacy), the best thing you can do is treat them with kindness. Sooner or later they will see the error of their ways and change their attitude.

Chris

 

[Requiem]

I vowed that I would never, ever, ever judge a person by their ability to pay, or for the medicines they were taking, even if they are obviously addicted to prescription medication. It is not my place to judge. Leave that to God. My job as a pharmacist in a professional health career dealing with sick patients is TO HELP THEM TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES AND NOT JUDGE THEM.

If people treat you like crap at your job (which is inevitable at ALL jobs not just retail pharmacy), the best thing you can do is treat them with kindness. Sooner or later they will see the error of their ways and change their attitude.

Chris

I'm not sure about your definition of judging, since pharmacy involves a lot of professional judgement. I think you're really over simplifying a lot of bigger issues, for example drug addiction. It actually is your place to judge the situation and the patient and to determine what is going on, and how you can help. I'm not sure if you're referring to the word 'judgement' in a biblical sense, (hence the God reference) because that's a personal issue, not a professional one.

And honestly most people undergo very little major variation in their personalities, a friendly person at 20 will be most likely friendly at 80, and vice versa for a cynical person. I believe you should treat a person kindly to demonstrate your own personal empathy, opposed to hoping that it will cause them to change their attitude.

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

Some people are just really crazy. and mean to the pharmacy staff...and other people in the pharmacy have to be made aware of it for their own protection..it's sad for the tech that made the mistake..i don't know how walg computer system works so i am not even gonna go there..where i work I juste don't see how i could print the patient "internal note" when i wanted to print the drug info..those are just two separate things in the system!!!

Again, some people are just looking to hook themsel up with some money...The first thing I was told when I move to the USA was that American people are "happy suers" some people would do anything...to find, fast easy cash....

Take this case and tell me if it is Hippa violation or not?:

Lady X come to the store and from the front desk start yelling her medications she want at one of my coworker..the store is full of people...so the tech ask her back did you said drug X? (just to make sur he heard the right thing) ..she starts yelling HIPPA violation and a number where to call..will sue... blablabla... ( background: usually people wait that our tech come to them , then say what they want..so i guess that she comes so often to the store that she does not need anymore to wait for one of use to come to her...she can just walk in and yell her "order of the day"

To me just some people out there trying to sue for some easy money..we have as health professional be aware of it..the all "patient first" threat them all equaly is good in theory..but know that there are people out there to try to get us..because they know that we are in a very vulnerable profession, learn to identify them..

This woman was just "a lawsuit waiting to happen" that how I see all the people that act weird , use abusive language and are never satisfied with the service they receive no matter the discount you give them..the time you take to contact their MD to get refill..their insurance..( when they could make the call themselves..)you can do anything and everything and still be the "vilain" to them...

just some bad apples out there..the first tech that wrote the note..recognize her as being one.." and that's the truth

 

[meg]

Ironically, one of the main impetus that brought me to the field of pharmacy was how I was treated by a Walgreen's pharmacy techinician when I was picking up my pain meds after my skydiving accident. I was on public aid. Even though I have been working since I was 16 years old, I have not had the luxury of finding a job that included health insurance and I have been unable to afford it on my own. The look that this woman gave me when I would pick up my medicine was enough to make me cry. She treated me like I was dirt.

You went skydiving without health insurance? You could afford skydiving and not health insurance? Sorry, I might have looked at you like you were crazy too! 😱

 

[cognito]

Some people are just hypersensitive to every little thing they come accross. Also some people just enjoy creating drama. I was floating at a store in an affluent part of the city, and a doc called in a xanax script for a patient. Hour or two later the patient shows up to pick up her meds. I ask what she is picking up, her answer "xanax". I ask: " any other prescriptions, she says "no" So, I proceed to councel her on the medication: sig, side effects, etc...I ask: "any further questions, concerns?" She pulls a 180 and starts yelling at me for mentioning the name of her medication outloud. I look around and realize there are no patients around and also that she just said it herself few minutes ago and I was probably speaking more quietly than she was. I reminded her that state law compels me to counsel on all new scripts and thats all I was trying to do. She storms off. Now I usually don't care, but since I care about the people who may be forced to deal with this patient in the future I left a few notes in her profile, perhaps nothing as bad as the previous example, but with a few $$ here and there.

 

[JohnDoc]

Not a frivolous lawsuits. The database is nationwide. Pharmacists and employees have a resonsibility towards these customers. These kind of comments are outrageous. Even more outrageous are the posts here that find such comments funny.

Actually, now that I think about it, the pharmacist is the only one that prints out drug interaction information for the patients. Most likely the pharmacist was the one that goofed and didn't read the notes field when they gave the medication to the patient. I agree with you that whoever was in charge of that pharmacy wasn't doing a good PR job but does that justify some lady getting tons of money and possibly having several people lose their jobs? You seem to think "yes" and I'm going with "No". In my opinion this is just a frivolous lawsuit and should be thrown out of court.

 

[JohnDoc]

Not a frivolous lawsuit. The database is nationwide. Pharmacists and employees have a resonsibility towards these customers. These kind of comments are outrageous. Even more outrageous are the posts here that find such comments funny.

Actually, now that I think about it, the pharmacist is the only one that prints out drug interaction information for the patients. Most likely the pharmacist was the one that goofed and didn't read the notes field when they gave the medication to the patient. I agree with you that whoever was in charge of that pharmacy wasn't doing a good PR job but does that justify some lady getting tons of money and possibly having several people lose their jobs? You seem to think "yes" and I'm going with "No". In my opinion this is just a frivolous lawsuit and should be thrown out of court.

 

[JohnDoc]

Our computer at Wags is loaded with derogatory comments. Some of them are hysterical. They've never gotten to the patients, because our store doesn't have any techs that are idiots.

Your store has one idiot -- you. You just stated on a public forum that Wags does this all the time. wow

 

[insipid1979]

Your store has one idiot -- you. You just stated on a public forum that Wags does this all the time. wow

He didn't say that... 😕

 

[imperial frog]

He didn't say that... 😕

She didn't say that.

 

[DownonthePharm]

I think that its dumb to write comments about patients down, but its pretty common for employees to circulate information about customers that are difficult. I have worked in hotels and in banks, and in both situations if one of us had a problem with a customer we would "brief" the others about it. Part of it is about blowing off steam, the other part is about genuinely warning your coworkers about a potential workhazard. Its not worth getting yelled at because you didnt know that Lady X will not under any circumstances give you her SSN or address, and if you even ask she will flip out at you and cause a tremendous scene. It doesnt affect the quality of service you give them, you just handle them a little differently.

That being said if I saw notes that I was a bitch, rather than sue over it, I would probably figure out why they thought I was being a bitch. Its much more helpful overall for everyone.

 

[Moxxie]

When I first started this thread I had only worked in a retail pharmacy (CVS) for two days. Although I'm by no means a veteran, over the past 7 weeks I've already seen my share of difficult patients like this one. I've been warned about specific people by the pharmacists and techs and have treated them accordingly. After some patients have left I've made the comment, "There's something wrong with Mrs. XXX." (And then I've usually heard a juicy story or two). There's one patient that a couple of the techs will refuse to wait on - they hide in the back when she shows up (which means, of course, that I have to deal with her). But even after all this, I still think that it's inappropriate to write derogatory comments on the patient's profile. It's better to keep this sort of information word of mouth. Maybe I'll change my mind, but right now I still think that this lady shouldn't have been ever had the chance to see the comments she saw, deserved or not.

 

[dgroulx]

When you have lots of difficult patients, you need to document it. It can't all be word of mouth. I was a new intern and at Eckerds they made me wait on the difficult ones as a "rite of passage". We had one so nasty that she threatened me, phoned the DM told him that I violated HIPPA, the pharmacist had to go to bat for me and say there was no violation, she had to take time out of her schedule to file paperwork, etc. The woman also attempted to get me thrown out of UF, by writing letters and claiming a HIPPA violation. All because we couldn't have her script filled immediately on the spot and I told her so.

At Walgreens, I appreciated the notes left warning me about nut cases beforehand. If it's busy, you get their name at the counter and look them up in the computer before you attempt to find their meds.

 

[Moxxie]

When you have lots of difficult patients, you need to document it. It can't all be word of mouth. I was a new intern and at Eckerds they made me wait on the difficult ones as a "rite of passage". We had one so nasty that she threatened me, phoned the DM told him that I violated HIPPA, the pharmacist had to go to bat for me and say there was no violation, she had to take time out of her schedule to file paperwork, etc. The woman also attempted to get me thrown out of UF, by writing letters and claiming a HIPPA violation. All because we couldn't have her script filled immediately on the spot and I told her so.

At Walgreens, I appreciated the notes left warning me about nut cases beforehand. If it's busy, you get their name at the counter and look them up in the computer before you attempt to find their meds.

That's true - you can't always rely on word of mouth when it's busy. But I still respectfully disagree about leaving nasty comments in the profile. Plus, maybe the walgreen's system is different, but at CVS it's actually pretty hard to get to the comments screen - you have to go through several other prompts to get to it. Most of the comments I've seen are ones like "always ID" or "no early refills, EVER." My store is also right next to a lot of hospitals, so we mostly do new rxs and not as many maintenance meds. So my experience is probably also limited in that respect.

 

[sweetpea22]

pretty sure walgreens filled the most rxes nationally last year...... but anyway, this woman's privacy was not violated for displaying the comments section upon her prescription..... yes, they were in poor professional taste, but if that was a HIPAA violation than so too was displaying the name of her medication next to her name. please do not forget that it is not a violation of a patient's privacy to convey PHI when assisting them.........

 

[All4MyDaughter]

That's true - you can't always rely on word of mouth when it's busy. But I still respectfully disagree about leaving nasty comments in the profile. Plus, maybe the walgreen's system is different, but at CVS it's actually pretty hard to get to the comments screen - you have to go through several other prompts to get to it. Most of the comments I've seen are ones like "always ID" or "no early refills, EVER." My store is also right next to a lot of hospitals, so we mostly do new rxs and not as many maintenance meds. So my experience is probably also limited in that respect.

I think the comments are important because you definitely cannot rely on word of mouth, with floaters and shift changes, etc.

But you can keep the comments professional while still conveying what you need to convey.

Write this:

"MD alleges substance abuse. No R/F on controls, period.
Notify PCP if pt presents control RX from other MD"

Instead of: "MAJOR druggie - watch out for doctor shopping"


This:

"Patient prefers no public disc of meds. Offer private couns area prn"

Instead of:

"DO NOT mention that Ms. A is on Xanies or she will go nuts!!!"



That said, we still have some inappropriate comments in our computer. I don't know where they came from. They ARE funny, even if they could be more tactful.

Dealing with the personalities in pharmacy can be stressful. Laughing when someone is so bad that its funny can help blow off steam. Just make sure no one can hear you.

 

[icemoose]

The assumption that it was a tech who made these comments is not completely fair. Any pharmacy employee could have made them and this includes the pharmacist. I agree that these type of comments should not have been on the patient's file however it was not a HIPPA violation because the only people who see these comments are the employees in the pharmacy who already have access to what medications the patient is on because they are her healthcare provider. There was a breakdown of the WAG system in this instance #1 the comment should have never been in the file and should have been removed once it was seen (by either the pharmacist or the tech), #2 the pharmacist who verified the Rx should have never printed the DUR. The information on that screen is for the pharmacist so they may make the decision about the interaction. The computer system is set to where the Rx cannot be rung up if the pharmacist has marked the Rx in the computer as needing a consult (such as counseling on a DUR) so there was no need for the sheet to be stapled to the bag. #3 the pharmacist/tech/cashier should have removed the DUR sheet once the pharmacist had counseled the patient.
However what's done is done and yes the company has learned a lesson that they will probably pay dearly for. 🙁