GREED KILLS –
Feb. 5, 2025 – A couple is suing Walgreens and a pharmacy benefits management company, alleging that their son died because he couldn’t afford a sudden $500 spike in his asthma medication. Shanon and William Schmidtknecht, of Poynette, filed their lawsuit in federal court in Milwaukee on Jan. 21, a year to the day that their son Cole died at age 22. According to the lawsuit, Cole Schmidtknecht suffered from asthma all his life. He managed it with daily doses of the medication Advair Diskus and its generic equivalents, which he ingested through an inhaler. The Schmidtknechts allege that pharmacy benefits management company OptumRX violated Wisconsin law by raising the cost of the medication without a valid medical reason and failing to provide 30 days’ advance notice of drug price increases.
Pharmacy benefits managers act as intermediaries between health insurance companies, prescription drug companies and pharmacies. Optum Rx services prescription claims for more than 66 million people across the United States, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the Walgreens pharmacy staffers failed to offer Cole any workarounds to obtain his usual medication. They told him there were no cheaper alternatives or generic medications available, they didn’t contact OptumRx to request an exception on Cole’s behalf, and they didn’t ask Cole’s doctor to request an exception for him, his parents contend.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
