Walgreens mix-up puts oxycodone prescription info in hands of scary drug addict, suit claims

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/03/customer_claims_drug_addict_tr.html#comments

A man is suing the nation’s largest drug-store chain for $10,000 — claiming that staff at a Gresham Walgreens pharmacy inadvertently shared a copy of his oxycodone prescription with a drug addict, who then tracked him down and demanded that he hand over his pills.

The lawsuit details a frightening face-to-face encounter outside the Walgreens at 16200 N.E. Glisan St. A woman — described in the suit as a prescription drug addict — became hostile after the man refused to give her his painkillers.

“She threatened him that she knew where he lived, that she would use his personal information to come rob his house, and that she would have her people beat him up,” states the suit, filed last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court. “She said that ‘Timmy’ gets out of jail in 8 months and that he would come get him.”

A representative from Walgreens did not respond to a request seeking comment. Walgreens has more than 8,200 stores nationwide, including 77 in Oregon and 134 in Washington.

According to the suit, the man’s troubles began after he filled a prescription for oxycodone at the Glisan Street Walgreens on Jan. 8. Two days later, he was contacted by a stranger who said that Walgreens staff had mistakenly slipped a copy of his prescription and personal information in a bag containing her daughter’s prescription medicine, according to the suit.

“She told him that she had all of his information, including his full name, date of birth, residential address, and telephone number,” states the suit. “She told him she would return his information to him if he agreed to give her the pain medication he had been prescribed.”

The man nervously agreed to meet the stranger at Walgreens, where he persuaded her to go inside the store to tell pharmacy staff about the mix-up, the suit says.

“Walgreens pharmacy staff admitted that they had made a mistake,” the suit states.

Afterward, the man was outside the store with the woman when he told her he wouldn’t give her his oxycodone — and that’s when she threatened to rob him or have “Timmy” come after him.

It’s unclear if the man called police. The man’s Portland attorney, William Ball, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

The suit states that the threat caused the plaintiff a “tremendous amount of anxiety and sleeplessness.” His “anxiety partially stems from not knowing what (the woman) is capable of,” the suit says.

The suit faults Walgreens for allegedly violating federal health privacy law by sharing private health information with a stranger and for allegedly violating its own company policy by failing to notify him of the breach.

In addition to $10,000 for emotional distress and unspecified economic damages, the suit also seeks attorney’s fees.

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Is pharmacy, prescriber lock-in the antidote for Rx abuse?

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drug-topics/news/pharmacy-prescriber-lock-antidote-rx-abuse?page=0,1

Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation (HR 1021, “Protecting the Integrity of Medicare Act of 2015”) that includes lock-in pharmacy provisions for Medicare beneficiaries considered at high risk of abusing prescription drugs. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said it has serious concerns that drug plan sponsors will use the lock-in provision to steer business to pharmacies in which they have a financial interest.

“Lock-in pharmacy initiatives in state Medicaid programs virtually always include the ‘lock-in’ of both prescriber and pharmacy because a coordinated approach to patient care is essential to the success of any such program,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA. “The committee’s proposal to require the ‘lock-in’ of both a prescriber and a pharmacy is an improvement compared to proposals that overlook prescribing. The prescription drug abuse epidemic is complex and wide-ranging in nature and at the forefront of prevention efforts must be a focus on reducing the inappropriate prescribing.”

Click here to read the letter NCPA sent lawmakers.

NCPA is advocating safeguards to such provisions that include strengthening beneficiary protections to help prevent the mandated use of pharmacies owned by or affiliated with the drug plan sponsor; clarifying exempted individuals to include patients in long-term care settings and those suffering intractable pain; and increased use of existing authorities to combat prescription drug abuse.

Is this just another bureaucratic solution.. that will most likely make things worse ? IMO.. it is like trying to bail water with a sieve… So you have a person locked into a prescriber/pharmacy… what if the prescriber doesn’t believe in adequately prescribing pain management. What if the pharmacy they are locked into has a change over in staff and the new Pharmacist(s) are opiophobic and doesn’t want to fill controls … what if the pharmacy has hit monthly limit of purchases for controls and “cupboard is bare”… how is the pt suppose to get their medically necessary medication?  These “addicts” will just go to “the street” to get their needed medications and/or fix.  Which would suggest that crime will increase.

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Warning: “Hanging in there” is destroying your health

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/01/warning-hanging-in-there-destroying-your-health/

Sucking it up is highly overrated.

We operate in a society where it seems as if there is some secret committee that hands out awards for people who work through any sickness, embrace sleep deprevation or race through the work day without eating. It took me over 36 years to be able to admit to myself that no one was going to give me a gold star for constantly pushing myself forward.

I started asking others why they felt compelled to soldier on, and there seemed to be a few common themes: parents’ expectations growing up, needing to prove oneself and fear of rejection or loss. Regardless of the cause, most people who struggle with easing up on themselves also wrestle with admitting weakness. Fair enough.

When I look back on the years that I refused to admit weakness of any kind, I don’t think anyone could have convinced me to ease up. There were no magic words that would have made me pause and make some drastic changes.

The only reason I finally changed my pace was a health issue that brought me to a grinding halt.  Doctor-ordered time off of work followed and I started to learn the first of a series of very hard lessons. I have several friends and acquaintances who have undergone a similar experience, where they were completely fine—until they were suddenly not. If we could see the brick wall we were about to collide with, we would have stopped.

The problem is that no one sees it coming.

Why we end up paying with our health

When we are constantly functioning with high stress levels, our body stays in “fight or flight” mode.  According to the Mayo Clinic, when your body perceives a threat, adrenaline kicks in to increase heart rate, blood pressure and energy supplies. This also causes cortisol, the main stress hormone, to increase blood sugar and slow down nonessential functions (digestive and reproductive systems). This ends up disrupting almost all of the body’s normal processes, including the areas of your brain that control mood.

It’s no wonder that we suddenly start to experience major problems with our health. At first, the adrenaline and cortisol are giving us the boost we need to deal with high stress levels. But when high levels of these chemicals are sustained in our bodies for too long, things start breaking down.

Heart disease, digestive problems, and sleep disorders are the more familiar health issues, but there are a few that can be difficult to detect.

Nobody wants to talk about mental illness

There are so many people silently struggling with anxiety or depression. Bell’s Let’s Talk campaign references that mental illness is the leading cause of workplace disability and represents 15 per cent of Canada’s burden of disease.

When we start using the term “brain disorder,” as many research institutes do, it becomes easier to link the imbalance of long-term exposure to stress hormones and mental illness. Brain chemistry is disrupted and your ability to self-regulate your mood can be permanently altered.

There are several challenges with identifying anxiety or depression. First, there is a stigma associated with both of these diagnoses. Secondly, the symptoms can be extremely vague and will vary greatly between individuals.

I have talked with busy professionals in their 30s and 40s who were diagnosed with anxiety or depression and many of them indicated that the main symptom was that they had completely lost their mental buffer. They interpreted every curveball life threw at them as a major crisis, and only after starting holistic treatment did they realize they had not been able to cope with everyday life.

If you suspect that you might be struggling with anxiety or depression, Here to Help has an online screening tool that can be helpful to take at home and print out your results for an upcoming doctor appointment.

Adrenal fatigue is a real thing

I recently learned what adrenal glands actually are, thanks to Dr. Aviva Romm. In a recent blog post, Dr. Romm explains that the adrenal glands function like “the shock absorbers for our system,” helping us rebound from life’s stressors by controlling our stress response system. They sit right above your kidneys and are actually the “primary survival organs” of our body.

Once we have experienced unrelenting stress and adrenal fatigue has kicked in, our immune system plummets, we feel exhausted, we can’t regulate our moods and we start gaining weight because of carb or salt cravings.

Women particularly experience hormonal imbalance and unstable blood sugar levels.

If you think you may be experiencing adrenal fatigue, check out Dr. Romm’s blog post, “10 Signs that Your Adrenals are on Overdrive.”

Chronic inflammation flies under the radar

Inflammation is our body’s healthy response to injury or infection. However, experts such as Dr. Andrew Weil, tell us that too much stress (as well as diet and other lifestyle factors) can contribute to chronic low-level whole-body inflammation. This type of inflammation can lead to heart disease, several types of cancer, arthritis and Alzheimer’s. If you have a genetic predisposition to any of these diseases, the health risks of chronic inflammation drastically increases.

The problem with chronic inflammation is that it is almost imperceptible until it triggers a disease. So we get tricked into thinking that our lifestyle isn’t catching up with us.

Avoid learning the hard way

This isn’t going to happen overnight. But you do have a few choices.

First, you can decide that your physical health is a precious commodity that cannot be taken for granted. Ask anyone who has ever faced a life-threatening diagnosis. Your priorities shift pretty quickly when you realize your body may not rebound. If you are committed to protecting your physical health, you can start taking small steps to make sure that you are getting the rest, fuel and exercise that your body needs to fight off stress.

Second, you can assess the major stressors in your life. There is always a choice. Dr. Brené Brown inspired my personal motto, “What is the bravest thing you can do?”

When you have figured out what your major stressors are, ask yourself what is the bravest thing you can do with regard to this issue or person? Then do it.

Finally, figure out what type of support you need to start easing up on yourself. It doesn’t have to be anything radical. Maybe it’s just reading a book that will help you shift your perspective (I would highly recommend The Gifts of Imperfection by Dr. Brené Brown). Maybe it’s a friend, maybe it’s a class, maybe it’s working with a therapist. However you choose to address this, it’s important to deal with the underlying compulsion to push forward at all costs.

Next time a healthcare worker (prescriber, pharmacists, etc) , your employer or co-worker tells you to “suck it up”..  Are they really telling you that you are not worth their trouble to help you ?

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Blue Cross Blue Shield Nurse Accused Of Illegally Accessing Patient Records

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/03/02/blue-cross-blue-shield-nurse-accused-of-illegally-accessing-patient-records/

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A nurse with a history of narcotics theft illegally accessed a state database that contains prescription drug records for 1 million Minnesotans, all under the supervision of government entities that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

A WCCO-TV investigation found that, despite the nurse’s background, he was given access to the database by both the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

There are major questions about how state officials and Blue Cross Blue Shield handled this breach.

The state database with the names, addresses and prescription records for 1 million Minnesotans was set up in 2010 to monitor the abuse of prescription drugs.

It is administered by the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy.

“Usually when people are addicted to medications they go to multiple prescribers in a short period of time,” Minnesota Board of Pharmacy executive director Cody Wiberg said.

Access to the database is mostly limited to physicians and pharmacists, but two Blue Cross Blue Shield employees also have access. The reason for that is because the state pays Blue Cross to monitor drugs in state-run medical programs.

In 2010, one of the employees the state of Minnesota and Blue Cross allowed to access the database was registered nurse Jim Johnston. Johnston’s access was supposed to end in March 2012, when Blue Cross Blue Shield told the state they were assigning another employee to the job.

The state failed to take Johnston off the list of legal users. Eight months later, an audit found Johnston had gone into the databases 249 times when he shouldn’t have.

He looked at 56 individual patients’ records, meaning he accessed some people more than once.

When asked if that represents a violation of federal law, specifically the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as state law, Wiberg replied, “Yes, it’s very clear under federal law and state law that you can only access the data when you have a need to access the data.”

A state investigation also found that Johnston accessed patients’ personal social media accounts, and in one case shared a patient’s picture with other Blue Cross Blue Shield employees on a work computer.

Johnston and Blue Cross Blue Shield refused repeated requests for interviews, so is not clear why Johnston accessed the private information and what, if anything, he did with it.

What is clear is if he has a documented record of stealing and abusing narcotics — a record the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy told us they did not know about until WCCO-TV told them — Johnston was never criminally charged.

But his discipline records are easy to find on the state Board of Nursing’s website. In 2000, he admitted to stealing narcotics meant for critically ill infants at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul and was fired. And in 2002, he was fired from Unity Hospital in Fridley after testing positive and admitting to stealing morphine.

Johnston never lost his nursing license. He was fined and required extra supervision for a time. His LinkedIn page says three months after being fired from Unity he began working for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

It is not a violation of state law for someone with a history of drug theft to have access to the state prescription database. But Brian Krallis, a Dallas-based health care consultant, said it raises serious questions under federal health privacy laws.

“The fact that they actually took someone with a known history, a past record, and put this person in charge of this arena and had access to this information is what they actually call willful neglect,” Krallis said.

Johnston told investigators that he told a Blue Cross Blue Shield supervisor in 2012 that he still had access to the database and that the supervisor did not tell him to stop. WCCO asked the company about that, but they did not respond.

“That’s a major problem because at this point Blue Cross Blue Shield cannot say it did not know there was a problem,” Hamline law professor David Schultz said.

Krallis and the Board of Pharmacy said the accessing of each of the 56 individual patient records was illegal and Blue Cross Blue Shield could be subject to major federal government fines.

“He purposely went in to review patient records, and any time that happens that individual has a right to know their information was compromised,” Krallis said.

But the Minnesota Department of Human Services says only 16 of the patients records were accessed illegally. Their reasoning: while Johnston didn’t have legal access to the database, two others at Blue Cross did.

Schultz said the Minnesota DHS got it wrong.

“It doesn’t make any sense. If he is illegally accessing it, he is illegally accessing it, and it doesn’t matter whether Blue Cross had legal access to the rest of them,” he said.

When WCCO-TV went to the Minnesota DHS for answers, they gave us an interpretation of federal HIPAA law that three experts told us is wrong. That is significant because the Minnesota DHS manages health care programs for 1 million Minnesotans.

The Minnesota DHS told us there was no need to report any of this breach to federal authorities because the reporting requirement is for breaches of 500 or more individuals. Page 60 of the HIPAA regulations indicates breaches affecting less than 500 patients shall be reported annually.

“They just got that wrong and I wonder for how many years they have been operating under that incorrect interpretation,” Schultz said. “Federal law saying you must report, and they are not reporting.”

Minnesota taxpayers paid Blue Cross Blue Shield $565 million in 2014 for managed health care programs.

“I would have serious misgivings about giving money, especially taxpayer dollars, to an entity that does not appear like it’s following even the simplest of regulations,” Krallis said.

After investigating the breach, the Board of Nursing disciplined Johnston, ordering him to undergo HIPAA training and fined him $5,000.

Johnston no longer has access to the drug database.

While Blue Cross Blue Shield suspended Johnston in March 2013, he was later reinstated and continues to work there as an access management specialist, a fact that Krallis called unbelievable.

“It’s such a gross violation and infringement,” Krallis said. “That he still has a job, I really am at a loss. I don’t even know what to say.”

Through email, Blue Cross Blue Shield told WCCO-TV the breach is an isolated situation and no personal information was shared with anyone outside the company.

The Federal Department of Human Services, which administers HIPAA laws, would not comment.

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http://jamespmurphymd.com/

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Suburban Mother Denied Potentially Life-Saving Medical Device by Insurance Company

http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Suburban-Mother-Denied-Potentially-Life-Saving-Medical-Device-by-Insurance-294471481.html

At UnitedHealthcare, we are committed to improving the health care system.  http://www.uhc.com/

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DEA says Utah rabbits ‘cultivated a taste’ for pot

Utah is considering a bill that would allow patients with certain debilitating conditions to be treated with edible forms of marijuana. If the bill passes, the state’s wildlife may “cultivate a taste” for the plant, lose their fear of humans, and basically be high all the time. That’s according to testimony presented to a Utah Senate panel (time stamp 58:00) last week by an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“I deal in facts. I deal in science,” said special agent Matt Fairbanks, who’s been working in the state for a decade. He is member of the “marijuana eradication” team in Utah. Some of his colleagues in Georgia recently achieved notoriety by raiding a retiree’s garden and seizing a number of okra plants.

Fairbanks spoke of his time eliminating back-country marijuana grows in the Utah mountains, specifically the environmental costs associated with large-scale weed cultivation on public land: “Personally, I have seen entire mountainsides subjected to pesticides, harmful chemicals, deforestation and erosion,” he said. “The ramifications to the flora, the animal life, the contaminated water, are still unknown.”

It’s true that illegal pot farming can have harmful environmental consequences. Of course, nothing about these consequences is unique to marijuana. If corn were outlawed and cartels started growing it in national forests, the per-plant environmental toll would be about the same.

But backcountry marijuana grows are a direct result of marijuana’s illegal status. If you’re concerned about the environmental impact of these grows, an alternative is to legalize and regulate the plant so that people can grow it on farms and in their gardens, rather than on remote mountainsides.

Now, regarding rabbits. Some wild animals apparently do develop a taste for bud (and, yes, best to keep it away from your pets). But I don’t know that the occasional high rabbit constitutes grounds for keeping marijuana prohibition in place, any more than drunk squirrels are an argument for outlawing alcohol. And let’s not even get started on the nationwide epidemic of catnip abuse.

There was a time, not too long ago, when drug warriors terrified a nation with images of “the devil’s weed” and “reefer madness.” Now, it seems that enforcers of marijuana law conjuring up a stoned bunny?

Not scary enough for the Utah Senate, it seems: the panel approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate, where it will be debated this week.

More marijuana news
DEA group apologizes for commemorating Black History Month with the arrest of a Harlem drug dealer »
Two headlines perfectly sum up everything wrong with American drug policy »
The Dutch Embassy made an infographic to troll D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over pot »
Marijuana may be even safer than previously thought, researchers say »
Wonkblog on marijuana policy »

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Walgreens pharmacist allegedly provided wrong prescription, suit claims

http://louisianarecord.com/news/266819-walgreens-pharmacist-allegedly-provided-wrong-prescription-suit-claims

NEW ORLEANS – A Walgreens pharmacy patron claims she was given the wrong prescription leading to severe personal injuries.

Bobbie J. Wilson filed suit against Walgreen Louisiana Co. Inc. and an unknown employee in the Orleans Parish Civil District Court on Jan. 5.

On Jan. 6, 2014, the plaintiff, Bobbie J. Wilson, claims she was a patron at a Walgreens Pharmacy located at 5501 Crowder Blvd. in New Orleans. The petitioner was picking up her prescribed medication in order to regulate her blood pressure. However, the pharmacist working that day allegedly handed the plaintiff the wrong prescription made out to “Mr. Bobby J. Wilson.” The prescription was “Doxazosin,” used to treat enlarged prostates.

The plaintiff contends she ingested the “incorrect medication” for up to 10 days suffering acute personal injuries. The petitioner also further avers Walgreen Louisiana Co. Inc. is responsible for the aforementioned pharmacist’s actions and the damages incurred through the mishap.

The defendants are accused of failing to dispense the correct medication, adhere to safety protocol, failing to warn of a hazardous condition, failing to pay attention to detail, failing to adequately train its personnel and failing to read the prescription intended for the plaintiff.

The petitioner is seeking an unspecified amount in damages for pain and suffering, mental agony, disabilities, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses and loss of future income.

The plaintiff is represented by Craig S. Sossaman and Michael W. Collins of The Law Offices of Craig S. Sossaman, A Professional Law Corporation.

The case has been assigned to Div. F Judge Christopher J. Bruno.

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A cape of pain wrapped around your shoulders. And occasional bladder and bowel control issues for good measure.

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Medical marijuana trial pits state vs. federal laws

http://www.whas11.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/01/medical-marijuana-legalization-grow-trial/24223155/

SPOKANE, Wash. — Federal prosecutors are trying to persuade a jury that a cancer-stricken man and his family were illegally growing and distributing marijuana in the forest outside their northeastern Washington home despite claims by the “Kettle Falls Five” that they were instead raising legal medical cannabis for their personal use.

The case against Larry Harvey’s family has become a cause celebre among the marijuana community, which sees it as a prime example of the continued disconnect between state and federal marijuana laws. Washington state last summer allowed legal recreational sales, although the raid on the Harvey’s home happened in August 2012. And Congress late last year effectively barred the Justice Department from interfering with states that have medical marijuana systems.

Legalization advocates say it is a case of misguided federal marijuana laws and overzealous prosecutors unable or unwilling to accept the reality that most Americans would prefer to see pot users left alone.

“Some federal law enforcement officials are addicted to punishing people for marijuana-related offenses, and in this case the prosecutors are going on quite a bender,” said Robert Capecchi, deputy director of state policies for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. “They appear to be going out of their way to bring the harshest penalties possible. Nobody should face years in prison for providing medical marijuana to seriously ill people whose doctors recommend it. Surely the DEA and federal prosecutors have more pressing matters to address than this.”

Federal prosecutors argue the group’s medical marijuana claims are just a cover. They say evidence shows the group had been growing far more marijuana than they admit, and seized records they say show the group was paying people to process marijuana for illegal distribution.

“This is clearly a for-profit marijuana grow operation and a criminal act by people who are trying to set up an affirmative defense to their crimes under state law,” prosecutors wrote in rejecting the group’s efforts to have the case dismissed. “The defendant seems to imply that all a person needs to do to avoid federal prosecution for manufacturing marijuana in the state of Washington is to claim that he was manufacturing medical marijuana. It is clear that the defendants are hiding behind the medical marijuana laws in Washington in order to profit from their manufacture of marijuana.”

The judge on Feb. 18 dismissed the charges against Harvey, 71, because he’s suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, but allowed prosecutors to keep pressing their case against his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Family friend Jason Zucker on Feb. 24 agreed to a plea bargain, the details of which have been sealed. The three remaining defendants face lengthy prison sentences in part because police seized several firearms after spotting the outdoor grow from a helicopter.

“This president campaigned on respecting state medical marijuana and not going after individual patients who are acting in accordance with those laws,” said Tom Angell of the pro-legalization Marijuana Majority. “The fact that his administration is prosecuting this case is shameful and contrary to his campaign pledges. These prosecutions need to be stopped, especially because Congress just passed an amendment in December that is supposed to prevent the Justice Department from interfering with state medical marijuana laws.”

The federal judge in the case has barred the group from claiming protection under medical marijuana laws. In his order, the judge effectively said prosecutors simply had to prove the group was growing marijuana, and that growing and possessing marijuana remains against federal law.

“They can’t put on a medical necessity defense. They can’t talk about state medical marijuana law,” said Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, which supports the family but isn’t paying for its defense. “Normally these cases don’t go to trial, and people typically take plea bargains because they have no defense. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is continuing to aggressively try this case at considerable expense to taxpayers.”

Hermes, who has been attending the trial, said the family is fighting the charges because they think it’s the right thing to do. But he added: “I’ve never seen a jury acquit a federal medical marijuana defendant.”

The trial is expected to last into next week.

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