A Cook County, Ill., jury has awarded $31.3 million to the estate of Leonard Kulisek, a Schaumburg man who died in 2002 after becoming ill the previous year when a Walgreens pharmacist gave him the wrong medication. Kulisek was supposed to pick up his gout medication but was given glipizide, a drug used to treat diabetes. The drug dropped his blood sugar to dangerously low levels and triggered a string of health problems, including a stroke in May 2001, according to David Axelrod, attorney for Kulisek's estate. The jury believed the R.Ph. was under the influence of controlled narcotic drugs and awarded Kulisek's estate $6.3 million to compensate for his death and pain and suffering, and $25 million in punitive damages. Attorneys for Walgreens acknowledged that Kulisek was given the wrong Rx but argued the mistake did not cause his death. Carol Hively, a Walgreens spokeswoman, told Drug Topics, "Walgreens disagrees with the jury's decision and that is why we are appealing the verdict."

Walgreens to appeal $31 million med-error award