I go to the Duane Reade Pharmacy in the East Village 4 hours later. They haven't filled the prescription.
I have to wait a total of 45 mintues. The last 20, NO one else was there. The Pharmacist chose to fill all the other prescriptions in front of me, despite no one else being there.
Then a guy with a cough comes and says his cough is so bad he can barely breathe. I'm standing next to him. I can't leave. Great.
They finally "fill" my prescription, but they only have 7 of the 10 pills (they are out). They say they can order more, but the won't be in until Monday, and I'll have to come back. If I want to go to another pharmacy, my dr. will have to call AGAIN. The chances of reaching my doctor at 5pm on New Year's Eve? Not so good. So I'm stuck. After another long wait, I get my 7 (NOT 10 pills).
They assure me at noon on Monday they will get the order and I won't have to wait to get my 3 pills.
Just to give them extra time, I go at 3pm Monday. They don't have the pills. After waiting 30 minutes they tell me they forgot to order them. I can come back in a day or two.
I'm now half way through taking antibiotics, and I'm just suppose to wait and ignore the instructions from my doctor to take them twice a day? I tell them no.
They they act pouty and eventually come back with a twice as strong antibiotic cut in half. That's fine with me.
Except, the pharmacist accicdentally gave me twice as much as I needed. I was suppose to have 3 pills left. He gave me six of the cut in half double dose. So, 3 pills more than I needed.
I noticed he took all of my paperwork and kept it (despite it being mine -- I like to keep those in my records), and wouldn't give it back. He probably realized his mistake and didn't want to be sued.
Now, antibiotics, not a huge deal. But what if this was heart medication? Or something that could KILL you if you took 3 pills too many? Lots of medications can kill you if you take the wrong dose, or don't take them as directed.
The fact they they forgot to order it? Well, what if it was a really sick person who would have died without their perscription? What if they were old or not thinking clearly and really did come back in 2 days? By then, they easily could have become much more sick or died.
Duane Reade should be ashamed they treat people that way. I would not be at all surprised if this location had killed several people by now, with the terrible way they are run. And they are probably people from the projects (a lot of the people I see in line), who wouldn't be able to hire a lawyer.
