Whistleblower Protection

When one finds themselves in the difficult position of working for a company that is partaking in either unethical or illegal activity, eventually they'll have to make a choice of either going along and pretending everything is fine, or doing the right thing and speaking out against it. With the economy being the way it is right now, job security takes top priority among workers and many aren't exactly jumping at the chance to rock the boat and put their employment in jeopardy if they do find themselves in this position. Fortunately the government has safeguards in place which protect workers who speak out against wrongdoings at their place of employment. These safeguards protect everything from speaking out about product safety issues to alerting the authorities of HIPAA violations. Click here to view a partial list of these statutes and protections.

Sometimes it even pays to be a whistleblower. We mentioned a settlement the other day from back in 2008 where Walgreens was caught dispensing the wrong form of medication because one had a much higher profit margin than the other (ex: dispensing fluoxetine tablets when the prescription was written for capsules). Walgreens ended up shelling out $35 million after a probe by the justice department. The investigation was sparked by whistleblower pharmacist Bernard Lisitza who filed the initial suit. The good news? As part of the settlement, whistleblower Bernard Lisitza received $5 million from Walgreens. Not bad at all.


When Bernard Lisitza first became aware of the policy to "upsell" to the form of medication that paid the most, he very likely felt torn and it was no doubt a tough decision to make to do the right thing. Pharmacists typically make a good $100,000+ a year and it's not easy for someone in that position to risk his income and career to take a stand for what's right. But that's the moral of the story here: there's actually very little risk at all because of the protection whistleblowers have. In fact in his case and many other cases, he was rewarded quite generously for his guts to take a stand and say "I'm not going to sit by and let this happen anymore".


If you find yourself sitting there in a similar dilemma, if you're having to make that conscious decision, always remember that you'll always get further in life by doing the right thing and being honest. It will all work out in the end and your community will thank you. Go with your gut instinct and don't ever feel like someone has you by the throat just because they sign your checks. Because as we've seen in Benard Lisitza's case, sometimes there's a much larger check right around the corner.

Blast from the past: Walgreens forced to pay $35 million for improper dispensing practices

In 2008, from Forbes.com:

Walgreens Co. said Wednesday it will pay $35 million to the federal government, 42 states and Puerto Rico to resolve investigations related to Medicaid reimbursements for three drugs the company dispensed at its pharmacies.

The Justice Department said that from 2001 through 2005 the pharmacy chain improperly switched patients to different versions of the prescriptions drugs Ranitidine, Fluoxetine and Eldepryl in order to increase its reimbursement from Medicaid.

Tisk tisk tisk. It makes you wonder what they're up to now that we'll be hearing about in a few years. Got any information about any current wrongdoings at Walgreens, either at the retail stores, the Medicare Part B Support Center, or at the corporate level? Send us an e-mail at exwalgreens@yahoo.com. Nothing's too big or small to report on.