Anne Lenhart Arrested For Trying To Fill A Legitimate Prescription

Ann Lenhart was taken to jail for filling a narcotics prescription that employees at a Dallas-area CVS pharmacy assumed to be fraudulent.

When you go get a prescription filled, you typically brace for a few bad outcomes: There's the possibility your insurance won't cover your drug or you'll have to wait a long time. Typically, the worst thing that happens to us is we waste a bunch of cash on chocolate bars and trashy magazines at the checkout.

But when one Dallas woman headed to her local CVS pharmacy recently, the unimaginable occurred: She was arrested.

When Ann Lenhart hobbled into her Dallas-area CVS pharmacy on crutches, her leg was engulfed in a large brace and she had a permanent IV line in her arm.

She was looking to fill a prescription for Norco, a powerful narcotic she'd been prescribed the previous month after shattering her kneecap while doing volunteer work in Haiti. (h/t The Consumerist)

Lenhart spent a night in the Dallas County jail while the police tried to contact her doctor, according to a local television station in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas. The following day she was released on bond and was charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, CBS 11 News reported.

The police eventually dropped the charges after speaking with Lenhart's doctor, who confirmed the legitimacy of the prescription but said he never received a call from CVS. A CVS representative told CBS that the company is "investigating how this unfortunate incident occurred and we are working to resolve the matter with Ms. Lenhart."

In the meantime, Lenhart is suing CVS Pharmacy for false imprisonment and defamation. "I don't want somebody who I love to go in there and get arrested," Lenhart said to CBS.

Abuse of prescription drugs, including painkillers like Norco, is a growing problem in Texas. Deaths by accidental overdose, including those involving prescription drugs, more than doubled from 2000 to 2008, according to the Houston Chronicle.

A similar trend has emerged nationally, where prescription and over-the-counter medications accounted for the majority of drug abuse by high school seniors in 2010, according to a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Comments

[Happyexpat]

12:42 PM on 05/11/2012

I was toying with the idea of moving back to the States. Now, not so much.

[rtgmath]

11:53 AM on 05/11/2012

The Pharmacist erred big time, it cost the woman her liberty, her dignity, money (since she had to post bond), time on her job (according to another article) and could well have a cascade effect on other areas. Such things have for others resulted in insufficient funds for bills on automatic payment, causing bank fees, and further insufficient funds!

CVS should have to make things right, in a significant way.

The War on Drugs has its innocent casualties. The casualties are nearly all poor people, whether innocent or guilty. Rich users, abusers, and dealers generally get off. Rich people don't find themselves in this woman's situation.

Perhaps the Police need to make things right as well. They made an arrest without proper evidence.

There are lots of lessons to be learned here. Unfortunately, the people who most need the lessons will ignore them.

[mrsmic]

11:43 AM on 05/11/2012

Sue 'em....sue 'em in to the next millennium! I'm not usually a big fan of lawsuits and such but this is a cut and dry case of CVS not doing their due diligence properly.
This is why I support the community pharmacies in my town....they still practice compounding and offer excellent council when starting any new medication. These drug factories don't know you by anything but a number....my pharmacist knows my name.

[elderwalker]

11:56 AM on 05/08/2012

Okay Texas has a law but what part of common sense many have lost or choose not to use So she went to jail for the lack of common sense and going to get a nice payday and the CVS employees who fail to follow protocol will most likely lose their job or be written up, maybe lose a raise over the lack of common sense.

[susanbsbi]

10:16 AM on 05/08/2012

Wow, you could see that she needed the drugs, with those injuries. It would be different is she walked in like there wasn't anything wrong with her. But Texas like Florida has these stupid drug programs. The only thing that saves a lot of people, is that they have used the same pharmacies for years

[rj42net]

01:58 AM on 05/08/2012

Wow, I can't believe the FDA approved the name Norco for a narc. WTG FDA, WTG.

[RadLawFirm]

11:44 PM on 05/07/2012

you can read the story on CBS http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/05/04/woman-jailed-for-trying-to-fill-a-prescription/

You can also see the profile of her attorney Jeff Benton here: http://www.radlawfirm.com/jeff-benton.html

[brooklyncitizen]

10:10 PM on 05/07/2012

She's lucky they didn't break her other kneew cap...Texas justice style.

[HarleyOpenRoad]

09:28 PM on 05/07/2012

Sure, if CVS fills a fraudulent prescription without doing due diligence, massive fines for the company and perhaps the pharmacist goes to prison.

[beninabox1]

08:58 AM on 05/08/2012

Perhaps due diligence would have included photocopying her ID, putting the filling of the prescription on hold etc. Calling the cops based on no evidence, not so much.

[wtf is this]

09:20 PM on 05/07/2012

Texas justice. Jail first. Ask questions later. Doesn't it give you warm fuzzies?

[rj42net]

01:59 AM on 05/08/2012

Just bring your sawed off shotgun in the pickup.

[Jane Jay]

08:51 PM on 05/07/2012

Wasn't it CVS that just gave out cancer drugs to kids instead of fluoride pills? What is going on with them? How in the world did she end up arrested for this??? Why not just send her home until they could verify with her doctor? Crazy.

[lofttypeofaview]

08:15 PM on 05/07/2012

Always have your doctor call or fax a prescription to the pharmacy instead of having him write you one to take.

[Kaptain Kool]

07:26 AM on 05/08/2012

Rx for Schedule 2 drugs must be written on triplicate hard copy (special DEA form) and hand-carried to the pharmacy. No refills. Every month I have 2 to walk in.

[LeftistGuerrilla]

10:07 AM on 05/08/2012

On second thought, maybe that is because he knows I am unorganized. :-(

[LeftistGuerrilla]

10:06 AM on 05/08/2012

I didn't know they still wrote prescriptions on a piece of paper. My doctor doesn't even ask, he just orders it for me.

[BillyRadd]

06:03 PM on 05/07/2012

The CVS pharmacy made a mistake? If a hamburger joint makes a mistake you might get pickles when you didn't want them, or no mustard when you did. But a pharmacy that makes mistakes with prescription drugs can potentially kill, or cause much pain, suffering and humiliation like in this case. Gee, here's another business we can all cross of our lists. Won't see me in CVS ever again. I hope she takes them to the cleaners.

[Sencbull]

05:51 PM on 05/07/2012

Why is everyone in everyone else's business; quick to pass judgement? Sadly, facts appear to mean little. Immediate gratification rules.

[BillyRadd]

07:16 PM on 05/07/2012

What is your point? CVS is not disputing the facts and the facts speak for themselves. Passing judgement is what commenting on these posts is all about.

[Wilson Orshal]

05:45 PM on 05/07/2012

San Antonio 2010 Mom was dying from Ovarian Cancer that had Matastecized.
Some days she was in so much pain she could barely get out of bed to go to the bathroom so I would get her prescriptions for her. Strong narcotics for the pain.
It was an ordeal each and every time.
They called her doctor and if he wasn't available, no prescription....and she was in pain.
One time it took two days to fill the prescription.
I guess I am lucky I didn't get arrested as well.

[Happyexpat]

12:45 PM on 05/11/2012

Having just gone through my father's dying and death from cancer I am horrified by your story. My only problems with getting my father's prescriptions was hallucinatory cost when they were not covered by either Medicare or insurance, but at least they gave them to me. The United States gets scarier by the day.