A man from Sedgwick County, Kansas is suing a local CVS Pharmacy over claims that its branch in Wichita gave him the wrong drug when filling his prescription for a blood thinner.
In a court response, the Kansas CVS Pharmacy says that it did not provide the man with the wrong medication, nor did they cause the man’s stroke.
The man, Ben Huie, is blaming the pharmacy for the stroke he suffered in 2017 after taking the drug metoprolol without realizing that wasn’t the drug he had been prescribed. Metoprolol is a beta-blocker that’s used to treat high blood pressure, chest pain and heart failure.
Huie says that he was supposed to be given warfarin sodium, an anticoagulant used to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
He claims that the pharmacy made an error and gave him metoprolol instead. Huie suffered a stroke within just 10 days of taking the drug. He is now seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
Kansas CVS Pharmacy stated that it had filled prescriptions for warfarin for Huie, but has denied that he was given the wrong medication and denied causing the stroke.
In response to the lawsuit, CVS said, “The negligence of others for whom this Defendant is not responsible for, caused or contributed to cause any alleged injury or damage.” The company stated that the stroke was a “direct and unavoidable consequence” of the plaintiff’s preexisting medical condition.
Huie, according to the lawsuit, has various medical conditions that require him to take warfarin sodium at varying doses depending on the results of the tests he takes to measure his blood clots. He has different prescriptions for different strengths of the drug and keeps a “stockpile of tablets” that allow him to adjust his dosage whenever necessary.
Huie asked Kansas CVS to fill his existing prescription for warfarin sodium in December 2016. But Huie was given metoprolol instead of warfarin sodium, the lawsuit claims. He began using the prescription in July 2017, taking the first tablet on July 5.
He suffered from a stroke on July 15, 2017.
Several days after the stroke, a new prescription was filled for warfarin sodium, and Huie’s numbers returned to a therapeutic level. It was determined that the previous prescription had been filled with the wrong drug.
The lawsuit claims that the lack of warfarin during the first half of that July had caused his stroke.
