https://www.newsweek.com/florida-doctor-says-cvs-pharmacy-refused-covid-patients-prescribed-hydroxychloroquine-1518763"Florida Doctor Says CVS Pharmacy Refused COVID Patient's Prescribed Hydroxychloroquine
A Florida doctor said Thursday that a local CVS pharmacy refused to fill a hydroxychloroquine prescription for his coronavirus positive patient.
"When my assistant gave the COVID-19 diagnosis CVS said, 'Sorry we can't dispense the drug,'" Speros Hampilos, a Tampa Bay-area physician, told WFLA News Channel 8 after he sent his assistant to a St. Petersburg CVS pharmacy.
"This was the first time we've been asked for a diagnosis and were declined," the doctor said.
Hampilos, who has 35 years of experience, tried to fill the prescription after getting a phone call from a patient who just received news he was diagnosed with pneumonia and the novel coronavirus.
"He called me yesterday and said, 'Doc, I was in the [emergency room]. I was diagnosed with pneumonia and COVID-19, and I still don't feel good,'" Hampilos said, which prompted him to write three prescriptions, including one for hydroxychloroquine.
Hampilos said he was told the reason why the CVS did not fill his prescription was because their policy dictated they could not dispense hydroxychloroquine for a COVID-19 diagnosis. The doctor called a different pharmacy and was able to fill the prescription soon afterwards.
Amy Thibault, the senior manager for corporate communications at CVS, told Newsweek in an email the company's goal is to "limit stockpiling of medication that could result in future shortages and gaps in care."
"We're balancing the off-label use of certain prescription medications to treat COVID-19 pneumonia with the ongoing needs of patients who are prescribed these drugs to help manage chronic conditions such as lupus, HIV, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma," Thibault said."
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https://www.newsweek.com/florida-doctor-says-cvs-pharmacy-refused-covid-patients-prescribed-hydroxychloroquine-1518763So are they expecting some mad new influx of Lupus, malaria and RA patients? One would think they have a fairly steady and dependable flow of users for those purposes that they can plan.
Are they suggesting they can't get what they might need from the 63 million doses our government has stockpiled and collecting dust?
Even so, while their running out could inconvenience and increase discomfort in their regular customers,
is it a matter of life and death, as it can easily turn into for a COVID sufferer? The whole Zelenko Protocol requires 10 pills over 5 days (and occasionally more if the symptoms aren't cleared).
The customer that was refused should have seen if he could have forced an accounting of the volume that CVS had on hand at that store and at their local distributor. If I went in and they did that to me, I would get everybody's name and tell them my family will name each and every one of them in a wrongful death lawsuit, if my symptoms wound up progressing beyond the point of no return, or permanent injury.
If someone is given a prescription and their pharmacist gets in between a doctor and his patient, and the patient misses crucial timing of treatment and dies as a result, mightn't this constitute grounds for a wrongful death lawsuit?
