Woman goes to pick up her prescription at Walgreens. Then she learns they gave it to her ex-husband
A woman is calling out Walgreens after alleging that they gave her prescription medication to someone else without her permission.
In a video with over 63,000 views, TikToker Ali St. John (@ali_st_john) says that, for reasons she does not understand, Walgreens dispensed her medication to her ex-husband.
“I just learned that my pharmacy dispensed my medication to my ex-husband, who obviously does not have authorization to pick up prescriptions for me,” she explains. “He was there picking up a prescription for my daughter, and they gave him both her medication and my medication, just because he knew my phone number.”
As noted by St. John, this presents a litany of issues. To start, she says the pharmacy is refusing to refill and re-dispense the medication. Second, she states that if one can really fill someone’s prescription using only their phone number, this presents a major security and privacy concern.
“If anybody’s looking for drugs, if you know my phone number, apparently Walgreens will give it to you,” she concludes. “And, they think it’s perfectly fine.”
“They’re doubling down and will not accept the fact that they made an error or performed a HIPAA violation of any kind,” she adds.
What Happened Next?
St. John later posted a follow-up video offering more information. According to the TikToker, she is not in frequent contact with her ex-husband. When she made contact with him about this issue, he affirmed that they had given him the medication. That said, he was “really confused why they gave him my medication because he didn’t say he was there to pick up for me.”
“We don’t have the same information,” St. John explains. “He’s not on my account.”
Regardless, St. John says her main issue was not the actual action. Instead, it was “the principle of the matter — the fact that they allowed somebody other than myself to pick up a controlled substance.”
Is This Normal?
Many viewing this video might wonder how something like this could happen.
It’s unclear. Generally speaking, one only needs “the date of birth of the person that the medicine is for, your address, and phone number” to pick up a medication, per SettleIn. That said, it’s uncertain how and why St. John’s ex-husband was provided with her medication.
One possibility is that the couple shared an account at Walgreens and that prescriptions were filled under this shared account. Drugs.com notes that prescriptions at Walgreens can be picked up by anyone with a customer’s “digital pass.” It’s possible that this error could simply be attributed to both medications being under the same pass or account.
All that said, it seems that the actions of the pharmacist were not necessarily a HIPAA violation. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pharmacists are allowed to “use professional judgment and experience with common practice to make reasonable inferences of the patient’s best interest in allowing a person, other [than] the patient, to pick up a prescription.”
Laws can vary from state to state. Still, a pharmacist is typically only required to verify, to the best of their ability, that the person picking up the medication is involved in the patient’s care.
Commenters Are Divided
In the comments section, users were split in their reactions.
“Walgreens did nothing wrong. They don’t know your business and that you had a messy divorce. You have to tell them if you don’t want someone picking up for you,” wrote a user.
“I work in a pharmacy and if someone comes to the counter and gives me your name, birthday and has a valid id, I am dispensing the med to them,” added another. “If you haven’t called the pharmacy to let them know he can’t pick up, that is on you. There needs to be a note on the profile or the profile flagged somehow.”
“Not any violation. Just wrong of your ex to pick yours up,” countered a third.
“Go directly to corporate,” advised a further TikToker.
@ali_st_john They refused to refill and re-dispense. They refused to accept any kind of accountability for making a mistake at all. They swear by the fact that if somebody knows my phone number that that is authorization to pick up – a controlled substance at that. @@Walgreens ♬ original sound – ali_stjohn
The Mary Sue reached out to Walgreens via email and St. John via Instagram direct message.
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