MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WRN) — A Wisconsin couple is suing Walgreens and pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx for their son’s asthma death.
Shannon and William Schmidtknect’s 22-year-old son Cole died in January of last year. According to the lawsuit, their son stopped at a Walgreens pharmacy in Appleton and was told that the price of his inhaler had jumped from $66 to $539 out of pocket. He left the pharmacy without the medication and tried to manage his condition with a rescue inhaler. The lawsuit says he suffered a fatal asthma attack a few days later.
The couple alleges Optum Rx violated Wisconsin law by raising the cost of the medication without a valid medical reason, and failed to notify their son so that he could talk to his doctor about alternatives.