Walgreens admits pharmacy's mistake, cover-up

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
After two years of steadfast denial, Walgreen Co. acknowledged this week that one of its pharmacies mistakenly dispensed synthetic heroin to a 7-year-old New Mexico boy instead of his doctor-prescribed Ritalin, and then used a forged prescription to cover up the error.
Officials of the Deerfield, Ill.-based company have apologized for the misfilled prescription. They say no one in corporate management knew about the forgery until it was revealed in August in state court in Tierra Amarilla, N.M., and that they should not be punished for "the apparent wrongful conduct of a renegade employee."
But lawyers for the mother of Joshua Dunbar, now 8, allege "direct knowledge of this fraud at high levels" within Walgreens.
They want Judge Timothy Garcia to fine Walgreens at least $25 million for unethical behavior and are seeking millions more in damages for Joshua, who spent six days in a coma and was left with permanent brain damage.
The forgery has pitted Walgreens against its own pharmacist and the pharmacist against the company's former lawyer, creating a knotty legal predicament that shows no sign of resolving itself quickly.
Miriam Dunbar filed suit last year, saying a Walgreens pharmacy in Espanola, N.M., gave her a 60-pill bottle of methadone, labeled as Ritalin, and she unknowingly gave her son the powerful painkiller, used to wean addicts off heroin.
Meanwhile, for Joshua, life is a struggle, Dunbar said. He has had to relearn how to stand up and walk. He had earned As in school but now takes special education classes and struggles for Cs.