Man sues Walgreens following suicide try

Valencia resident says he received wrong prescription

Anthony Gonzales thought he was picking up a prescription for a muscle relaxant to treat his pain from an auto accident a year earlier.

But, he says, the pharmacist in Española gave him the wrong pills — a prescription for a man with the same name. And that drug, he says, known for some risky side effects, led him to a suicide attempt.

Now Gonzales, a former San Miguel County resident living in Valencia with family, is suing the Walgreens Co. as well as unidentified employees of the Española store who gave him the wrong drug in 2014.

In the suit, filed Thursday in the state District Court in Santa Fe, Gonzales is asking for an unspecified amount of damages to cover the medical costs he incurred after shooting himself in the head, as well as lost wages, legal fees

“and any other relief this court may deem just and proper.”

Contacted Friday, a Walgreens corporate spokesman said by email, “We just learned of this lawsuit about an incident four years ago and we don’t comment on pending litigation.”

Gonzales’ lawyer, Ahmad Assed of Albuquerque, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

According to the suit, Gonzales was injured in an auto wreck on Aug. 28, 2013. One of his treatments for pain was a muscle relaxant called cyclobenzaprine, a generic equivalent of Flexeril.

About 14 months after the accident, on Nov. 3, 2014, Gonzales had his prescriptions for cyclobenzaprine and two other drugs filled at the Española Walgreens on Riverside Drive.

But when he went to the store to pick them up, a pharmacy employee “negligently and intentionally” gave him a prescription for another Anthony Gonzales, a drug called alprazolam, which is a generic form of Xanax, used to treat anxiety and panic disorders. It’s one of the most prescribed psychiatric medications in the United States. It’s also been linked to suicidal tendencies in some users.

“Thinking the alprazolam was his cyclobenzaprine, [Gonzales] inadvertently took the alprazolam, which is similar in appearance and size to cyclobenzaprine,” the lawsuit says. “On or about Nov. 9, 2014, a short time after ingesting the alprazolam, [Gonzales] attempted suicide via gunshot to the head.”

Gonzales survived, but suffered head trauma and other physical problems related to the injury, the suit says.

Walgreens employees failed to affix the appropriate label to the pill container, the suit says. They also failed to verify the identity of Gonzales to make sure he was the correct patient who’d been prescribed the alprazolam.

Because of the error, Gonzales “has incurred and continues to incur medical expenses,” the suit says, and continues to suffer pain and loss of wages.

The case has been assigned to state District Judge Raymond Ortiz.