Pharmacies Covering Mistakes with Confidentiality Agreements
Confidentiality agreements between plaintiffs and defendants on the surface may seem a fair practice so that the parties can be assured of a fair trial. However, when it comes to patient safety where is the line drawn. Chanda Givens was prescribed a prenatal vitamin for her unborn child, but instead Walgreens filled the prescription with Matulane, a chemotherapy drug that interferes with cell growth. After suffering weeks of nausea, vomiting, neurological symptoms such as dizziness, lightheadedness, chills and shortness of breath a medical exam showed her baby was not developing normally. She later miscarried the child. She sought actual and punitive damages in excess of $75,000. The lawsuit was settled out of court a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed. It was never determined whether Walgreens was at fault or not because the settlement included a confidentiality agreement so now the Givens family and their attorney can’t elaborate on the case. In fact, USA Today while reporting on the Givens learned that a number of lawsuits with alleged pharmacy misconduct have been settled and most with a confidentiality agreement attached. "Settlements buy silence," attorney J. Douglas Peters says. "Attorneys have an ethical Catch-22: They have a duty to their client and a duty to the public good. But their first duty is to their client. And if the client is going to get paid, the big-box pharmacies insist on silence." Even Peters is unable to elaborate specifically on similar cases he has handled because of the confidentiality agreements he is bound by. He says he is seeing a pattern in which cases are being settled after they have been asked to disclose data revealing what happens in the pharmacy, such as how much and how many prescriptions pharmacists are expected to fill. When all is said and done it sounds like extortion; money for silence.
