West Virginia CVS Pharmacy; CVS Pharmacy Inc.; CVS 6306 WV; Caremark; Jane Doe Pharmacist(s); and John Doe Pharmacy Technician(s) were all named as defendants in the suit.
Cliff McLean Collins maintained a prescription for 250mg of Depakote DR through his treating physician and, as prescribed, he would ingest three pills in the morning, two in the evening and three at bedtime, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Connie Arteese claims on or before March 31, 2015, an unbeknownst to her, Collins’ treating physician had changed his prescription and sent it to CVS and, as prescribed, Collins was to receive his medication as taking two 250mg tablets at 6 a.m., two tablets at 2 p.m., and three tablets at 10 p.m.
On April 1, 2015, Arteese traveled to CVS in St. Albans to pick up Collins’ prescription and, upon arrival, she was directed that Collins should take the drug in the manner as prescribed on the bottle, however, CVS had negligently, carelessly and recklessly mis-filled his prescription, according to the suit.
Arteese claims believing the instructions to be correct, she permitted Collins to ingest the prescription in the manner prescribed on the bottle, which, instead of totaling 1,750mg, actually totaled 3,500mg.
Following the unknown, unauthorized and dramatic increase in Collins’ ingestion of Depakote, he initially showed signs of decreased energy and strength, followed shortly thereafter by a marked increase in the number of seizures, which would vary dramatically in number each day, according to the suit.
Arteese claims on April 27, 2015, she contacted CVS to request a re-fill and was advised there were no refills due to the prior dosage change, which perplexed her and she retrieved one of the bottles of the prescription, where a closer examination revealed that the instructions and the total amount of milligrams were not consistent.
When Arteese telephoned Collins’ treating physician to inquire about the incorrect prescription, the physician requested Collins be brought to Cleveland Clinic immediately for treatment and evaluation, according to the suit.
Arteese claims the defendants failed to correctly fill the prescription.
As a direct and proximate result of the breach of standard of care, and the carelessness, recklessness and negligence of the defendants, Collins ingested the incorrect dosage and sustained physical injuries; pain and suffering; mental anguish; increased costs of care, reasonable and necessary medical expenses; and annoyance and inconvenience, according to the suit.
Arteese is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Robert B. Warner and Andrew D. Byrd of Warner Law Offices.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge James C. Stucky.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 17-C-589