Walgreens Refused to Fill My Prescription

This is a frequent complaint in pharmacy- unfortunatly the Pharmacist
has a license to protect. In this case the Pharmacist on duty felt
that your prescription as written was a danger to your health or
others and did not feel comfortable filling the prescription. It is
well within the Pharmacists duties and rights to refuse to fill any
precription. This same compaint can be made if the Pharmacist had
filled it as written, but you had a complication- then realized it was
a overdose. Now, shouldnt the Pharmacist have known it was an
overdose?

What puzzles me is why they changed it to the regular release form of
Ritalin without talking with the doctor. That would be beyond the
scope of a Pharmacists practice.

Anyways, I would consider talking to your doctor to change you to a
medication that is within normal dosing limits to prevent future
problems. Or maybe write your diagnosis on the script?

Sorry to hear about your recent problems with the pharmacy. I have
worked in the UNIV of IA pharmacy and it would seem to me that your
states licensing agency would be able to hear your complaint about the
pharmacist and the pharmacy where she works. After all, the medicine
was verified by the Dr. who prescribed it. Nuff said, you had a legal
prescription and should have not had all the hassles. I too would go
to Walgreens national office levels and raise hell. Too many jerks out
there messing with customers. Go to the licensing agency and national
office and keep track of your situation. I wish you the best of luck
in the matter.

You are correct that a Pharmacist is not allowed to make substitutions
on a prescription except for generic substitution. Unfortunately (in
your case, more fortunately in others) a pharmicist has a right to
refuse to fill any prescription. They don't however have the right to
retain your prescription unless they are unable to contact the doctor
or attempt to verify your prescription and the doctor says that he did
not write it or it has been altered.

I heard if you go to more than one doctor for various things it's a
good idea to stick to the same pharmacy because if Doctor A prescribes
something and Doctor B gives you a prescription they might not know
about the other one because you might forget to say something.

Your pharmacy may catch it if your history is on the computer.

This was back in the mom and pop days but when my mother was in her
30s her OB/GYN prescribed something for a female situation and she
went to my dad's internist when she got sick with I forgot what and
the OB/GYN was out of town and when she went to the pharmacy that knew
our family the pharmacist caught a possible problem and called the
internist who prescribed my mom something different.

Excellent letter. I do hope you hear back from Walgreens. I also
sincerely hope this pharmacist is dealt with. I would also report her
to the Board of Pharmacy in the State.

Walgreens is well known for looking at people getting CII meds. They
will all of a sudden have the MD next to their name instead of the
PharmD or Rph. I would NEVER go to Walgreens. For that matter, I
don't go to any chain Pharmacy unless mine is closed. I like using
the Mom and Pop Pharmacies. It is much more personal and they treat
you as a human being and not a drug addict or dealer.

Good luck.

Walgreens just sucks all around. I wouldn't have let the other
Walgreens fill it. I would have just went to a different pharmacy. I
used to work for them. They don't give a damn about customers. It
was the worst job I ever had. They care about one thing! PROFIT
MARGIN! It is the focus of everything at Walgreens. They get away
with it simply because they cater to low income people who don't know
any better.

At that point I would have gone to the CVS, Rite Aid, or Eckerd down
the block...

Anyone that values the expertise of a pharmacist over a doctor is
crazy and probably has the wrong doctor. As a registered nurse I see
first hand how some pharmacist think they are "drug gods" as we like
to call them. I have seen first hand the affects of changes they have
made to patients prescriptions. One poor lady had to be rushed to the
emergency room after her local drug store pharmacist decided that she
needed the decongestant (D) in her claritin. What he did not factor in
was that this woman takes blood pressure medication and D's can have a
deadly adverse reaction to a list of BP meds. You were right to not
accept the change. My husband has narcolepsy and his medication regime
is strickly monitored by his physician and any change even a slight
change can have a dangerous affect like falling asleep at the wheel.
Never let anyone other that you doctor change your prescription!

I didn't read all the comments here but I have to say that Harleycat
is dead one! Pharmacists do know more about medications then doctors.
Example: I once had a doc prescribe a double dose of antibiotics for
my 3 year old. The pharmacist expressed his deep concern and really
did NOT want to fill the script. He warned me my son would get sick. I
believed the doctor. End result: my son was EXTREMELY sick and had to
be taken to the ER because of too much antibiotics. Next time I will
listen to the pharmacist!

sorry for the typos....

I've had more than one pharmacist save my butt when I was prescribed
the wrong meds.

John Doe.... seriously? Is that your real name?

This is a very well written, level headed letter. Did you get the
pharmacists name? Make sure when you use the complaint address/number
that someone else from PFB provided here, that you give them her name,
so they can speak with her and find out what her reasoning was. You
definitely have a valid complaint.

I'm a psychopharmacology student with bipolar and comorbid ADD. I
take, among other things, Concerta. Concerta is very similar to
Ritalin SR; they are both time-release methylphenidate. My pharmacy
required three forms of ID to fill my prescriptions, and my doctor is
sure to write "DAW" or "dispense as written" on my prescriptions.
They still treat me like a meth head half the time, but perhaps that
would be a start? I imagine pharmacists who don't specialize in
psychopharmacology would NOT realize that there is a difference in the
therapeutic level of Ritalin for ADD vs. narcolepsy; most pharm
students certainly don't know.

I can't comprehend why the pharmacist would want to give you regular
Ritalin instead of the SR; if she was concerned about abuse, um...the
regular one is WAY easier to parachute/snort/etc than the time release
one. Duh.

This letter isn't going anywhere, Mr. John Doe?

I am not going to speculate. I will say though that for whatever
reason, even after speaking with the doctor, this Pharmacist did not
feel comfortable filling that prescription. It is any pharmacists
right to refuse to fill any prescription. Unfortunately that is the
way it goes. The Pharmacists judgment is the judgment that counts and
they are ultimately the ones responsible for that prescription.
Ritalin is a Schedule 2 Narcotic, lots and lots and lots and lots and
lots of rules, regulations, and scrutiny follows every CII script
filled. I am not saying the pharmacist was right or wrong, but that
they where acting within their scope of practice to not fill the
prescription if they do not feel comfortable.

I can think of a few reasons off of the top of my head that would
cause a pharmacist to turn a script away, and they are all legitimate
reasons that the pharmacist may or may not share with you (please know
that I am not accusing the OP of anything, simply stating things that
I have seen in my 17 years in this profession). The rx may have
appeared to have been altered or looked otherwise suspicious, the
pharmacist may have still felt after talking to the doctor that the
dosage was not right (for example, Ritalin LA, versus SR....they are
different doses but are often confused by Doctors), the other could
very well be that the pharmacist just did not want to deal with it.

I would really like to know the rest of the story.

I'm not going to comment on the actions of this pharmacist but have to
say that, overall, pharmacists in general are much more knowledgeable
about medications than doctors.

I have had pharmacists intervene on my behalf when a doctor prescribed
something that was contraindicated because of my allergies.

I just had to point this out because sometimes, yes, the pharmacists
are more knowledgeable about medications than even the doctors at the
mighty Mayo Clinic.

I don't like to give out phone numbers or names on a web page but I'll
do the next best thing. Here is the address of the district office.
You can look up the phone number or call information.

Walgreens District Office
901 Northpoint Pkwy
West Palm Beach, Fl 33407

As Redhead mentioned there's more than 1 store. There are 7 in Delray
Beach but they are all in the same district. My suggestion for the
best response is to call the disrict office and ask to speak to the
pharmacy district manager. What they may end up doing is jotting down
your information and then forwarding it to the district manager and
the pharmacy district manager.

Why this pharmacist gave you such a hard time is a mystery do me.
Especially after they had called and verified the Rx with the doctor.
The SR (sustained release) formula in common for people with your
condition.

I think you have a valid complaint here, but you didn't give
Walgreen's enough information. Perhaps there is more than one
Walgreen's in that town (which I believe is good-sized). You didn't
provide the name of the pharmacist who refused to fill your
prescription. How is Walgreen's supposed to deal with this situation?