Walgreens prescription: 'She's really a psycho!!!'...

[MartinBlank]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=49166

AMERICAN BUSINESS AT WORK
Walgreens prescription: 'She's really a psycho!!!'
Woman sues pharmacy after insulting message: 'They're laughing at me as I come in the store'

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Posted: March 8, 2006
2:15 a.m. Eastern


A Florida woman is suing Walgreens after reading notes on her prescription referring to her as "crazy" and "psycho."

Janey Karp, 53, of Palm Beach, has been fighting depression and anxiety with the help of medication, but was shocked to find a computer printout from her pharmacist with the insults.


In an entry dated March 17, 2005, the word "CrAzY!!" was entered in a field reserved for patient information. Another field from Sept. 30, 2004, stated: "She's really a psycho!!! Do not say her name too loud, never mention her meds by names & try to talk to her when ... ."

The remainder of the information was continued on another page, but was not included with the printout.

"I was devastated, humiliated and embarrassed," Karp told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "I honestly couldn't speak. I was trembling."

"I'm thinking they're thinking here comes psycho, that they're laughing at me as I come in the store," she added. "I had enough trouble picking these [medications] up in the first place."

"A person has the right to have whatever medications they're taking to be private. I'm so private that I never talk about my medications and now they're telling me that I'm psycho, crazy."

Karp's lawsuit accuses the national chain of defamation, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.


Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively says the Illinois-based company is investigating the incident, noting that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have access to the computers.


Attorney Cathy Lively

"The Drug Utilization Review (DUR) includes a notes field intended for the pharmacist to use to enter reminders and patient requests," Hively told the paper. "We want to ensure that our pharmacy employees are acting in a proper and professional manner so we are looking into this matter."

Karp's lawyer, Cathy Lively of Lake Worth, Fla., says she tried contacting Walgreens more than a dozen times to no avail, receiving only "a very generic 'We'll investigate.'"

She believes there are untold numbers of other Walgreens customers who could unknowingly face Karp's situation.

"There a lot of medications with stigmas and sensitivities," Lively said. "A man taking Viagra, what are they going to be labeled? Do you want slanderous, derogatory comments put in the system?

"My client is not psychotic and not insane or incompetent, but the inference is there. If everybody treated for depression is deemed crazy and psycho, there are real problems."

Geez....can't these guys have a little fun at work?

[brizz]

defamation, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

wouldn't "Intentional" infliction of distress require proving that they made those notes with the intent of her seeing them? same goes for defamation.....

[brizz]

oh, and it sounds to me like she was a bitch and complained alot prior to this...hence the need for the notes in the first place. hell, if I were walgreen's i'd argue that they were merely trying to cater to the customer's best interests by imploring their employees to adhere to conduct she had demanded of them.

[MartinBlank]

I'd laugh if someone dug up a thread from months ago entitled, "I work at Walgreens and there's this fuckin' nut-job lady that comes in...read this..."

And who knows, maybe their turnover is so poor that comments like these are necessary to keep the whack-jobs from whackin' out.

If I worked in a place like this, i'd fuck with everybody...boil everone's ailment down to it's core..."Viagra=can't get it up....Ritallin=normal 8 year old...."

[Bushdog]

Originally Posted by brizz

oh, and it sounds to me like she was a bitch and complained alot prior to this...hence the need for the notes in the first place. hell, if I were walgreen's i'd argue that they were merely trying to cater to the customer's best interests by imploring their employees to adhere to conduct she had demanded of them.

That's what my friendly neighborhood pharmacist said went I showed her the story. They only use those spaces if they have to deal with someone who blows up, in order to warn anyone else who runs into that bullshit.

[Mad Dawg]

Weird. This thread popped up while I was watching the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine finds out she has "difficult" written in her medical file.

Anyway, I agree. There is no way they put those notes in unless she has thrown tantrums before. It's obvious that, no matter how insensitive, they were there only for the sake of the pharmacists and other customers.

[Joe Molotov]

She believes there are untold numbers of other Walgreens customers who could unknowingly face Karp's situation.

"There a lot of medications with stigmas and sensitivities," Lively said. "A man taking Viagra, what are they going to be labeled? Do you want slanderous, derogatory comments put in the system?

What ARE they going to be labeled? "Can't get it up?" Oh no, the secret is out! Your pharmacist knows the truth!

Yeah, I don't think they just took one look at her prescriptions and wrote "Crazy!!! She's a psycho!! Do not try to talk to this woman!" in the patient information blank. It's obvious they've had a "run in" with this woman before.

[gfoots]

I'm sure these remarks had nothing to do with the medication and everything to do with the customer's previous action in their store. The same notationw would probably be there if she was picking up cough medicine or inhalers. The only thing they should be embarrassed about is letting her see these confidential notes. Still, I'm sure whoever was responsible will be, or has already been, fired by walgreens.

[Rockmjd23]

Kinda similar to what we do at Blockbuster. I put insulting warnings on peoples accounts all the time.

[ivelostr2]

My brother owns a pizza shop, and we write shit like this all the time in the computer. If someone calls, immediately we put their number in the computer. There is a comments field that doesnt print out on the reciept. Usually it contains something good in it "fuck her don't take her order" or "tell them it will be over an hour, they always bitch" or "big tipper" or "wife has nice tits" and there is always the occasional "wash you hands after you take the money, the bitch is raving cumdumpster..."

...The bosses # has "fuck that fat fred flinstone looking mother fucker..."


...good times...good times...

[Numanoid]

I have no problem with the notes section being used to warn other employees about her problematic nature. But there is a professional way to say the same thing as "Crazy...Psycho!!!" How about, "Volatile customer. Treat with care. Do not discuss meds by name." etc? Same effect, much more professional, and a lot less likely to get you sued. Sometimes you have to stop acting like a teenager, even though you may not want to.

[Bushdog]

Oh, and theoretically, the other issue is, they probably could have been a bit more delicate on the choice of words. But the warning is well placed, likely.

[LiquidSky]

Originally Posted by Numanoid

I have no problem with the notes section being used to warn other employees about her problematic nature. But there is a professional way to say the same thing as "Crazy...Psycho!!!" How about, "Volatile customer. Treat with care. Do not discuss meds by name." etc? Same effect, much more professional, and a lot less likely to get you sued. Sometimes you have to stop acting like a teenager, even though you may not want to.

Agreed.

[lotsofdvds]

So she reacted to her shame of being somewhat mocked by three people in a pharmacy not by simply going to another pharmacy, but by filing a lawsuit and thereby letting the world laugh at her too?

That's psycho.

[Bushdog]

Originally Posted by lotsofdvds

So she reacted to her shame of being somewhat mocked by three people in a pharmacy not by simply going to another pharmacy, but by filing a lawsuit and thereby letting the world laugh at her too?

That's psycho.

That's someone looking for a money grab.

[Y2K Falcon]

Waaahhh... The teens at the Walgreens make fun of me. Waaaahhh....



If I could sue every time a teenager made fun of me, I could already retire.

[jfoobar]

Originally Posted by ivelostr2

My brother owns a pizza shop, and we write shit like this all the time in the computer. If someone calls, immediately we put their number in the computer. There is a comments field that doesnt print out on the reciept. Usually it contains something good in it "fuck her don't take her order" or "tell them it will be over an hour, they always bitch" or "big tipper" or "wife has nice tits" and there is always the occasional "wash you hands after you take the money, the bitch is raving cumdumpster..."

Correct. That little label that is on your pizza, the other half that got ripped off before you got the pizza may contain comments about you along with obvious stuff like your address, etc. When I worked for a Papa Johns in college many of our regular customers had custom comments in the computer that printed on those slips for the drivers. Usually, it was either "NT" ("no-tipper") or comments making it easier to find the house or apartment. I don't remember any overt like "wife has nice tits" or something like that as that is just an invitation to get fired or start a lawsuit.

I don't think this woman has much of a lawsuit and one can certainly defend Walgreen's right and reasoning behind adding comments to warn other associates of difficult/challenging customers, but the verbage they chose is going to get them in trouble and they deserve it.

[Bushdog]

Verbage? Aren't we obfuscating.

Actually, I don't know for certain, it is possible a pharmacy tech (read: a college kid who doesn't really need the job) was the one entering the comments.

[Giles]

Originally Posted by Rockmjd23

Kinda similar to what we do at Blockbuster. I put insulting warnings on peoples accounts all the time.

at the book & record store I use to work at there was some very funny comments re: customers we employess use to post.

[maxfisher]

Originally Posted by lotsofdvds

So she reacted to her shame of being somewhat mocked by three people in a pharmacy not by simply going to another pharmacy, but by filing a lawsuit and thereby letting the world laugh at her too?

That's psycho.

That's the first thing I thought of as well. Reminds me of a girl I went on a date with once, who spent the majority of our time together ranting about how she broke up with the last guy she was seeing because he thought she was crazy.

[Charlie Goose]

Originally Posted by Numanoid

I have no problem with the notes section being used to warn other employees about her problematic nature. But there is a professional way to say the same thing as "Crazy...Psycho!!!" How about, "Volatile customer. Treat with care. Do not discuss meds by name." etc? Same effect, much more professional, and a lot less likely to get you sued. Sometimes you have to stop acting like a teenager, even though you may not want to.

Absolutely. A little courtesy is expected from someone handling your medication. Adding little insulting notes to a person's account is unacceptable, even if the customer is difficult.

[jfoobar]

Originally Posted by Bushdog

Verbage? Aren't we obfuscating.

Actually, I don't know for certain, it is possible a pharmacy tech (read: a college kid who doesn't really need the job) was the one entering the comments.

I think we can be fairly certain that it was a peon who entered the comments. Even the managing pharmacist for that unit is still a peon in the corporate sense, but that won't keep that store or even the corporation from being held at least partially responsible for abuses committed by their staff.

What is pretty likely is that the comments were put in there because the work environment of that particular store allowed for that sort of unprofessional nonsense, much like ivelostr2's brother's pizza shop.

[Vibiana]

Personally, I get my anti-anxiety, anti-depression, and other meds through a mail-order pharmacy. If whoever packs the bottles thinks I'm a psycho, s/he has yet to send me a mash note indicating this.

[Vibiana]

Originally Posted by Rockmjd23

Kinda similar to what we do at Blockbuster. I put insulting warnings on peoples accounts all the time.

I'm intrigued. What could a movie renter do that's worthy of being smeared? "Never rewinds?" "Watches lame movies?"

[obscurelabel]