So my fiancé is type 1 diabetic, insulin dependent and is having a pain the ass of a time at walmart pharmacy when trying to buy syringes. They continue to request "proof of diabetes" and he's yet to get his id card updated to reflect that he's insulin dependent. But they will forgo the interrogation from time to time. Sometimes they'll let him use his medical alert necklace as proof, others they refuse to sell them to him. How can this be legal under the ADA? Location of our issue is in Florida, unsure if that matters. It's just frustrating how inconsistent it is. I'd understand if it was a written policy that could be viewed by customers / patients, but it literally started coming out of nowhere a few months back. And they deflect when asked why, probably because it's just their job to ask, but. Holy shit it's frustrating?? I'm kinda thinking he and I should speak to a lawyer about finding a way into a class action lawsuit for Walmart violating patient privacy, but I don't know if that's jumping the gun. And honestly, even if he was a junkie buying syringes for drugs, they are supposed to provide them no questions asked, as far as I understood, because buying clean needles is safer than reusing old. I don't know. Anyone got a clue?
Where in Florida? Is it just one location, or all of them? I work (remote) for a newspaper there, and if it's in my area I could ask my editor.
We've had issues with two locations, both in Polk County. The main one in Winter Haven is the one giving us the most hassle.
It's been a problem since September, I'm guessing? (if yes, the answer is they're intermittently being dicks because of massive shortages because a lot of medical supplies, including specifically syringes, are made in puerto rico in factories that still aren't at 100%, and different staff members and pharmacies will be different levels of well supplied and freaked out about it)
Now THAT is something I didn't know and I feel less annoyed about. Shit. He talked to the pharmacy manager at the store we use most today, who off the record said he doesn't believe they should word it the way they do, but state of Florida requires the person making the purchase has a correlating medical condition. But. How can they require that without stepping on the line of ada ? But yeah the Puerto Rico thing makes a lot of sense,being so close to there.
It's actually all across the US! It's just really poorly publicized for a bunch of reasons both complicated and stupid. The only reason I know is we talked about it in my disaster science class. And it really kind of does sound like they're being required by the state to shove at acceptable boundaries as hard as they can. Which sucks. Do you think he'll be able to get his ID updated soon? Since of 'investment in American infrastructure', 'Florida law starts to make sense' and 'individual inconveniences themselves unnecessarily because our system is shit,' the last seems the most plausible.
