Wal-Mart sued over alleged drug mislabeling

A pharmacist at the Yuba City Wal-Mart store mislabeled a pill bottle, resulting in a woman taking twice too much blood pressure medication and nearly dying, according to a $1.2 million lawsuit filed in Sutter County Superior Court.

After collapsing on a bus, victim Geraldine Schamanski's heart stopped five times in 24 hours. Her family was told two different times that she had died, said Yuba City attorney Nancy A. Southworth, who filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of Schamanski and her husband, Raymond.

Besides Wal-Mart, the pharmacist and Asereth Medical Services are named as defendants. The latter company apparently supplied the pharmacist who mislabeled the bottle, said Southworth.

Michelle Bradford, a spokeswoman at Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters, said company officials had not yet been served with papers in the case and could not comment.

Aside from a blood pressure problem, Schamanski was in "very good" health for a woman in her 70s before the pill mix-up. But if she had died from the overdose, the death probably would have been attributed to old age, said Southworth.

According to the lawsuit, Schamanski was taking two generic medications in early 2008 — nadolol, which is a beta blocker, and furosemide, a diuretic. The pharmacist gave Schamanski a pill bottle labeled furosemide that actually contained nadolol, causing her to take 80mg per day of nadolol instead of 40mg.

Schamanski collapsed after taking the double dose for at least six weeks. She "died" once in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, said Southworth.

Schamanski's Yuba City doctor quickly diagnosed the problem after looking at her medications and said the overdose "easily could have caused" the heart and lung problems that caused her collapse, according to the lawsuit.

Schamanski now has permanent heart damage and can no longer engage in her favorite pastime — taking a bus to area casinos to play bingo. The near-death experience has left both her and her husband, a disabled veteran, with anxiety, said Southworth.

Southworth said she negotiated unsuccessfully with Wal-Mart representatives for at least six months before filing the lawsuit and found "finger-pointing" going on between Wal-Mart and Asereth Medical Services.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.