Woman Suffering Asthma Attack Denied Inhaler at Pharmacy

Katherine O’Conner was denied an inhaler during an asthma attack, due to her inability to pay. O’Conner , and her boyfriend, Jack Brown was walking in their hometown of Garwood, New Jersey, when she experienced the asthma attack. O’Conner had left her rescue inhaler at home, so the couple stopped at a local CVS to get an emergency refill of her prescription. The couple lacked $1.99 of the purchase price. Brown attempted to barter for the remaining $1.99, offering his cell phone and wallet to the pharmacist, while O’Conner lay wheezing on the pharmacy floor. With the pharmacist still denying the inhaler, Brown called a friend who is a paramedic that showed up and treated O’Conner immediately.

Fox news

This is ridiculous, if the pharmacist was that worried about the monetary aspect of the situation why did he not administer a single dose to her, just enough to stop the attack? Maybe the pharmacist was afraid of violating company policy, in some cases violating policy leads to termination, and in these trying economic times, nobody wants to rock the boat. It seem that the larger an organization gets the less the care about customer service. I am so thankful to have found a pharmacy that’s goal is to remain a hometown, mom and pop business, which focuses on the customers. The pharmacist could have offered to call Emergency Medical Services for O’Conner.