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Judge OKs Illiterate Man's Lawsuit Over Prescription Error

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A malpractice suit by a South Los Angeles man who alleges that he developed heart and kidney failure after being dispensed the wrong prescriptions at a Rite Aid pharmacy will go to trial next week, a judge said Wednesday.

Lieutenant Taylor, who is in his mid-50s and cannot read, maintains in a lawsuit filed in November 2009 that he became ill after being given prescriptions intended for a Lennette Taylor at a Rite Aid store near his home in December 2008.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John P. Shook said during Monday's status conference that the trial will go forward Jan. 5.

In a sworn declaration, Taylor describes himself as "an illiterate male who stopped school at age 18 while still in the eighth grade." He says he presented a prescription for two medicines on one day and was told by a pharmacist that his doctor should have ordered him to take additional pills.

He said he returned the next day and was given his two prescriptions and unwittingly also was given four meant for the other customer. He says he immediately began taking all six drugs.

"When I started feeling sick and weak, I stopped taking them for a while," Taylor stated. "Then, I would start up again."

Defense lawyers have denied any wrongdoing by Rite Aid and maintain that Taylor's medical condition is not related to the prescriptions the store gave him.

(©2010 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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