New York, US – 5th December, 2016: A Nebraska magistrate judge on Friday signed off on an agreement resolving a widower’s wrongful death suit contending that Safeway Inc. pharmacists negligently dispensed methadone and another medication to his now-dead wife even though using the drugs together is risky, ultimately leading to her death.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken granted a stipulation of dismissal in Brian Crawford’s litigation alleging that Safeway is liable for his wife’s death because its pharmacists gave her both methadone, an opioid, and fluconazole, which is used to treat fungal infections, despite the fact that the medications are contraindicated for simultaneous use.
The terms of the settlement weren’t discussed in court documents, and representatives for the parties didn’t immediately return request for comment on Monday.
The widower, who originally filed suit in April 2014, alleged in an amended complaint later that year that Safeway “breached its duty to decedent Hilary Crawford by failing to provide reference material appropriate for the efficient and safe practice of pharmacy for use by its registered pharmacists which would alert the dispensing pharmacist of the adverse drug-drug interaction of methadone and fluconazole prior to the point of dispensing and delivering to decedent Hilary Crawford.”
The failure to provide its pharmacists with those materials led to a number of missteps that contributed to her April 2012 death, Brian Crawford alleged. For example, the pharmacists failed multiple times to provide Hilary Crawford with counseling and information about the increase in methadone when she was starting larger doses, on top of the fact that she was twice given another prescription for the drug before the prior one had run out, the complaint alleged.
The pharmacists also made a number of errors surrounding the dispensing of fluconazole to treat a yeast infection she contracted, including failing to check in with Hilary Crawford’s doctor, Michael L. Matthews, before giving her the medication while she was taking methadone and making sure she should receive five tablets of the drug when the recommended treatment was a single tablet, Brian Crawford contended.
As Safeway tells it, Hilary Crawford suffered from trigeminal nerve pain in her jaw, a chronic pain condition that affects certain nerves in the face. After it was discovered that the woman was getting multiple prescriptions for narcotics from several providers, her husband was enlisted to pick up the drugs and give them to her daily, a practice that continued through January 2012, according to Safeway.
Then in March 2012, the woman started seeing Matthews, who initially prescribed her two different pain medications and later prescribed her methadone, increasing the dosage several times, Safeway said. He also prescribed her fluconazole for a yeast infection that she developed that April, according to the grocery store chain.
Her family noticed that she wasn’t looking well on April 6, 2012, the beginning of Easter weekend, and a few days later, she was slurring her words and acting intoxicated while visiting with family and friends at her home, a family friend said, according to Safeway. The next morning, her husband found her on the kitchen floor, Safeway said.
Safeway moved to exclude the testimony of Brian Crawford’s toxicology expert, Henry Nipper, in June, contending that his opinion lacked reliability. The company then followed up with a summary judgment bid in September, saying that without Nipper’s testimony, Brian Crawford wouldn’t be able to prove causation.
“There is not admissible evidence against Safeway that the combination of fluconazole and methadone taken by the plaintiff’s decedent caused her death. Rather, the overwhelming evidence is that the plaintiff’s decedent took twice as much methadone as she was instructed to by the pharmacy and by her physician. She exhibited signs of overdose in the several days prior to her death,” Safeway said. “Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms were not appreciated by her family and friends.”
However, Judge Thalken denied the motions in late September, and the parties reached a settlement the following month, according to court filings.
Source: http://www.law360.com/articles/869130/safeway-settles-medical-negligence-suit-over-woman-s-death