Class motion claiming Walgreens opioid coverage harms ache sufferers tossed

Individuals stroll by a Walgreens, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, U.S., November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters) – A federal decide has dismissed a proposed class motion lawsuit accusing pharmacy big Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc of discriminating towards folks with disabilities by discouraging pharmacists from filling excessive dose opioid prescriptions.

The choice by U.S. District Choose Charles Breyer in San Francisco Friday comes as Walgreens and different pharmacy operators face hundreds of lawsuits nationwide accusing them of failing to cease unlawful opioid distribution, contributing to an epidemic of dependancy that has killed greater than half one million folks over twenty years. However affected person advocates like plaintiff Susan Smith say folks with extreme ache have been harmed by efforts to curb unlawful drug diversion.

Attorneys for Smith and for Walgreens didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Smith, a California girl with well being circumstances together with epilepsy and migraines, sued Walgreens in August 2020. She stated that Walgreens, dealing with lawsuits over unlawful opioid gross sales within the 2010s, instituted new company insurance policies instructing pharmacists to use further scrutiny to excessive dose or extended opioid prescriptions and warned them that they may face legal responsibility if they didn’t.

Whereas the corporate didn’t forbid filling such prescriptions, Smith alleged that in observe, it discouraged pharmacies from doing so and made it tough for ache sufferers to get the remedy they wanted. She stated that violated the federal People with Disabilities Act and a California civil rights regulation as a result of folks with disabilities have been extra prone to want excessive dose opioid prescriptions.

Smith initially sued Costco Wholesale Corp as properly, however settled with the corporate in January on undisclosed phrases.

Walgreens, transferring to dismiss, stated that Smith failed to clarify how, particularly, its coverage resulted in prescriptions not being filed, and the way it discriminated towards folks with disabilities.

Breyer agreed on Friday, discovering that Smith “has not plausibly alleged that the coverage is ‘so intently related’ with disabled folks” that it quantities to discriminating towards them.

In Could, a Rhode Island federal decide allowed the same lawsuit towards Walgreens, Costco and CVS Pharmacy Inc to go ahead, discovering that the plaintiff in that case had provided research that supported a robust correlation between incapacity and opioid prescriptions.

Walgreens and different pharmacy operators are at the moment dealing with a trial over their alleged position within the opioid epidemic in New Mexico.

In August, Walgreens, CVS and Walmart Inc have been ordered to pay a mixed $650.6 million to 2 Ohio counties, and Walgreens was discovered liable for fueling San Francisco’s opioid disaster.

The case is Smith v. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, U.S. District Court docket, Northern District of California, No. 3:20-cv-05451.

For Smith: Thomas Haklar of Legislation Workplace of Thomas D. Haklar, Scott Hirsch of Scott Hirsch Legislation Group and others

For Walgreens: Kaspar Stoffelmayr or Bartlit Beck and others

Learn extra:

Walgreens prescriptions added to San Francisco’s opioid epidemic – decide

CVS, Walmart and Walgreens ordered to pay $650.6 million to Ohio counties in opioid case

Pharmacy operators Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger start opioid trial in New Mexico

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