Walgreens, Bonds Drug Co. sued over customer's opiate overdose

Two pharmacies are being sued after allegedly providing a prescription pain medication to a customer after being instructed not to do so by his physician.

Anne Oles, as special administrator of the Estate of John Paul Oles, filed a lawsuit March 20 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Walgreens Co. Inc. and Bonds Drug Co. of Illinois, citing negligence.

The suit states John was prescribed Vicodin by his physician, who called the defendants on April 20, 2010 to inform them John was abusing the medication and instructed them not to fill any more Vicodin prescriptions for him.

Oles claims the defendants continued to fill John's prescription and as a result of the their negligence, John died on Aug. 4, 2012 from an opiate overdose.

The plaintiff is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented in the case by Vincent Petrosino of Serpico, Petrosino, DiPiero & O'Shea Ltd.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L003247.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.