A Texas man took his own life after Walgreens reportedly delayed his medication to treat his terrifying lung condition due to an insurance query.
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Walgreens → take → query
Kenney Blewett shot himself inside his bedroom on June 7 at the age of 78 after experiencing another chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) flare-up.
His wife, Cindy, originally thought a photograph had fallen off the wall when she heard a loud bang, but when she walked in their bedroom, she found her husband with a gunshot wound and a suicide note.
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she → shoot → wound
Blewett had long struggled with his mental health, which worsened as his health deteriorated, his wife said.
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wife → struggle → health
Cindy described his COPD flares as the 'scariest thing in the world,' to KFF Health News.
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Cindy → describe → News
And just five days before, Blewett had gone to his pulmonologist, who had written him a new prescription for a medication that would hopefully make him have fewer flare-ups.
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him → go → ups
The condition had already left her husband 45 pounds lighter and largely house-bound.
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condition → leave → husband
She even recalled a doctor speculating his symptoms sounded bad enough to be cancer.
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symptoms → recall → doctor
'I can’t tell you how horrible it was,' she told KFF Health News.
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she → tell → News
Blewett was hopeful after getting the new prescription that he would start feeling better, but the 78-year-old never got the chance to find out.
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old → get → chance
Kenney Blewett, 78, of Kyle, Texas, took his own life after Walgreens reportedly delayed his COPD medication because it needed preauthorization through his insurance
A Walgreens employee told Cindy after Blewett's death that they tried to process his prescriptions but were waiting on a diagnosis code from his doctor.
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they → take → doctor
His pulmonologist told Cindy they never received the request
His local Walgreens delayed his liquid medication because it was flagged as needing preauthorization two days after his appointment, Cindy told KFF Health News.
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Cindy → tell → News
Cindy hadn't been initially surprised by the delay, as she said their pharmacy in Kyle, Texas, had been understaffed for months, which caused longer wait times.
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which → say → times
When she called to ask about the delay, she was told about the preauthorization, but not which part of her husband's Medicare plan needed it.
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part → call → it
Blewett had Medicare Parts A and B and a private Part D plan to help cover drug costs.
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Blewett → help → costs
The elderly man also had a Medicare supplement plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas.
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man → have → Texas
After his death, Cindy would find out that Medicare Part B had no record of the medication for Blewett, despite it being covered under the plan.
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it → find → plan
A district pharmacy supervisor at Walgreens would later tell her over the phone that they had tried to process the medication through Part B, but were unable to due to a missing diagnosis code on June 2, the day of Blewett's appointment.
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they → tell → appointment
The pharmacy requested the diagnosis code from Blewett's pulmonologist, who later told Cindy that they never got a request from Walgreens.
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they → request → Walgreens
Other parts of her husband's plan wouldn't have needed preauthorization, she found out, leaving the widow with no clue how her husband's life-saving medication got delayed.
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medication → need → clue
His wife, Cindy, is still trying to figure out which part of his Medicare plan needed the preauthorization.
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part → try → preauthorization
In his suicide note to her, Blewett admitted he took his own life due to his deteriorating health.
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he → admit → health
He had suffered from a flare-up just before killing himself
'I’m not sure how to find out what really happened,' she told the outlet.
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she → suffer → outlet
All she does know, however, is that her husband's health was the reason he committed suicide.
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he → know → suicide
In his suicide note, he told Cindy how much of a wonderful wife and mother she was, but that his health had become too much to keep living.
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health → tell → wife
To make matters worse, weeks after Blewett's death, Cindy got a package with a second COPD medication her husband's doctor ordered for him from the manufacturer.
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doctor → make → manufacturer
'Perhaps, just perhaps if he had received both medications in a timely manner, he would be here today, and we would have had many more years together,' the widow said.
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widow → receive → years
'He was hopeful that it would work.
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it → work → ?
I wish we had the chance to find out.'
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we → wish → chance
Walgreens told KFF Health News that it could not 'comment on matters involving specific individuals.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Walgreens and Cindy for comment.
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Mail → tell → comment
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