In 2023, Walgreens roughly filled 808 million prescriptions in the United States. While this number does include immunizations, these pharmaceutical sales accounted for about $82 billion of Walgreens’ U.S. sales.
And with numbers that high, there are bound to be a few mistakes. However, in a business with little-to-no margin for error, these mistakes may have dire consequences. TikToker Kaitlyn (@kaylowe890) used her platform to address this.
After waiting over an hour to receive her children’s medication from her local Walgreens, she said, Kaitlyn was enraged to find that the pharmacy had given her another person’s medication. Her clip has more than 100,000 views.
“Come with me to return the narcotics that I got by accident at Walgreens,” Kaitlyn begins. “Instead of giving me my kids’ medication, they gave me some random person’s narcotics.”
Kaitlyn sits in her car, holding the Walgreens bag filled with the wrong medication. She films herself as she makes her way back to the pharmacy to return what she claims to be as the wrong medication.
As Kaitlyn explains the situation, viewers can hear Kaitlin’s young children crying in the back of the car.
“They need their antibiotics,” Kaitlyn explains. “I waited an hour to get these antibiotics, get home, open the bag, [and] uh I did not get the antibiotics.”
What were the ‘narcotics’ she went home with?
Kaitlyn shares that she received both Oxycodone and Gabapentin, a drug most commonly used to treat and prevent seizures.
Kaitlyn looks more thoroughly at the prescription she was wrongfully given.
“I know everything about this patient because all their HIPAA information is on there,” Kaitlyn explains.
She even mentions how when she originally went through the drive-thru, the pharmacist insured to check both her address and ID, and yet somehow still gave her the wrong bag.
“[It] doesn’t match at all this patient’s information. They still gave me his medicine,” Kaitlyn says.
So after waiting for over 30 minutes on the phone to talk with a pharmacist once she had left the pharmacy, Kaitlyn called a store associate.
“I said ‘I need to get somebody on the phone, because you gave me somebody’s narcotics. I just need my kids’ medication, they have overactive lungs,’” Kaitlyn exclaims.
Kaitlyn then explained to viewers the severity of her child’s situation. According to Kaitlyn, if they don’t receive the antibiotics in appropriate time, they could potentially end up at the hospital.
“They already had shots at the doctor’s office, they need their second dose of antibiotics,” Kaitlyn explains.
The Walgreens response
In response to this entire ordeal, Kaitlyn claims that the only thing the store associate had to say was “I’m sorry.” And then they got forceful.
“I’m sure this patient just had surgery and this guy’s gonna show up wanting his narcs. And so she says, ‘We’re gonna refund you that, but we need you to get in your car and come back right now,’” Kaitlyn reenacts.
Frustrated, Kaitlyn gets back in her car and makes the 30-minute drive back to Walgreens.
“So here I am, with my two sick kids back in the drive-thru. Where we’ve waited probably 15 minutes to bring them their narc back with all their patient information on it,” Kaitlyn says.
Kaitlyn finally makes it to the pharmacy window and successfully completes the trade-off. Firmly, Kaitlyn tells the employee the situation and how she needs her sons’ medication. After receiving an apology and a cash refund, Kaitlyn drives off.
How common are prescription errors like this?
Every year, over a million people are left hurt in some capacity as a result of prescription mistakes. That tracks.
“This happened to me at CVS. Instead of my daughter’s allergy pills they gave her a sedative. I gave it to her before I realized and ended up in the hospital when she was 2. We ended up in court,” one viewer commented.
“Had this happen at Walmart. They said they couldn’t give me a refund, and I said I would just keep the meds for the pharmacy board investigation. They gave me a refund, I left. Filed a report with the Pharmacy board and gave them a video of the interaction,” another added.
@kaylowe890 #walgreens #hippaviolation #hippa #medicationtiktok #medicine ♬ original sound – Kaitlyn🧡
So while Kaitlyn was lucky she was able to finally receive the medication she had so desperately awaited, it’s unclear what happened in the series of other cases left in the comment section. It is also unclear just how common this occurs, so it’s always good to check your prescription before leaving the pharmacy.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kaitlyn (@kaylowe890) and Walgreens for comment.
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